''Exit'' is the studio album by

Shugo Tokumaru is a Japanese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who debuted in May 2004 in America with his album ''Night Piece''. He creates every aspect of his music, including the lyrics, music, arrangements, recording and mixing. He is known for ...

. It was originally released via P-Vine Records on October 19, 2007 in Japan. It peaked at number 239 on the Oricon Albums Chart.

Background

Tokumaru plays more than fifty different instruments on the album, and claims that he "drew inspiration" for its music from

Japanese pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

and a pile of old Beatles cassettes. Both of these were very influential music styles. He attained the album's experimental sound using everyday household objects such as a fork, ashtray, doorbell, wind-up toys; along with more traditional instruments such as acoustic guitar and wooden flutes. Most or all of the instruments were played in major key in a clipped, almost clockwork cadence. The album was mixed and recorded on his laptop, using the popular digital audio program

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Exit'' received an average score of 88 based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''s Matthew Shaer praised ''Exit'' as "a tribute to the unexpected beauty of everyday things" and "a defense of playful digression for digression's sake alone". Chris Dahlen of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' wrote, " okumaru isgently mining 1960s pop from around the globe and capturing it with a soft production and a sense of humor." Dan Raper of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' said, "Irrespective of biography and language, the album has a sunny, refreshing optimism that hardly feels out of date." In ''

UR Chicago ''UR Chicago'' is an online magazine covering regional and national lifestyles and entertainment. It was a print magazine between 1997 and 2008. History and profile Founded in 1997, ''UR Chicago'' was published by Pure Entertainment Group. The ma ...

'', Bob Nanna wrote that the "curious whimsy" of opener "Parachute" is enough to "beg repeat listens and intense curiosity for what's to come".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. *

– all audio * Itoken – drums (on "Clocca" and "La La Radio") * Kei Tanaka – double bass (on "Clocca" and "La La Radio") * Yumiko – accordion (on "La La Radio") * Machida Shizen Kindergarten – chorus (on "Button") * Mandy Parnell – mastering

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2007 albums Shugo Tokumaru albums P-Vine Records albums Startime International albums