Fujiya & Miyagi

Trafficking mainly in tunes for afternoon lovemaking, post-Kraut Fujiya & Miyagi add to their catalogue with another exercise in barely spoken seduction. This time around, the flirtation is more welcome than ever. Breaking with tradition and not starting with the bass line that kicked off their career on Transparent Things, the band's latest LP, Ventriloquizzing, advances the thesis that the Brighton, UK trio have a few more things up their sleeves, even while attesting to the opposite. Ditching dead-simple lounge rhythms for broader movements and tighter run-times, Fujiya & Miyagi have done away with some of their trademark expanse for welcome density. That new density doesn't come at the cost of identity; Fujiya & Miyagi still get their croon on, with "Sixteen Shades of Black & Blue" trading the preambles of Lightbulb and just getting to the point. The leap in songwriting quality is most evident on career standout "Pills" and late album lyrical darling "Tinsel & Glitter." It's a package that, for once, doesn't feel like interrupted strip poker. It's more fleshed out, so to speak.