Bonnie Pink's first full album is a collaboration with
Cardigans producer
Tore Johansson, who brings her songs a broader palette of instruments -- slide guitar, hip-hop shuffle beats, horns, vibes, and some delicious keyboards, including Fender Rhodes piano and a Wurlitzer -- than on her
Blue Jam mini-album. Though
Pink writes all the songs,
Johansson has shaped each into a little pop gem; gone are the extended jams of the previous outing. The first four tracks are probably the strongest opening of any Japanese rock record in years, including the single and title track "Heaven's Kitchen," "It's Gonna Rain," and "Do You Crash," the latter of which indulges in Beatlesque arrangements and variations on a descending chord sequence in the chorus. Other highlights include "Pendulum," with its bossa nova beat and soulful piano, and the swirling psychedelia of "Mad Afternoon." Possibly the album was planned as a crossover that never happened; half the lyrics are in English. Either way,
Bonnie Pink's vocals are capable of sweeping up into the high registers or plunging low to a whisper. A hidden treasure of a pop album.