POiSON GiRL FRiEND: MELTiNG MOMENT

Eyes peering off to the side, nOrikO Sekiguchi–POiSON GiRL FRiEND herself–pictured on the album cover for ‘Melting Moment’. There is a mellow subtlety to the image, accessible via Spotify, courtesy of Victor Entertainment. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

I cannot recall the exact date, nor precisely what I was doing at the time, but I can remember the feeling. It was a revelation, stirring not just one but a whole gamut of emotions inside. There, before me—siphoned through the algorithmic trenches of Spotify—was this gloriously understated image of a detached presence, in quiet tumult and consolidation. As ambiguous and sultry in her demeanor as she was effortless and evocative in composure, the overexposure and overall vintage quality of the album cover compelled mystique. It brought with it this overwhelming sentiment that I should know it, like an essential '90s musical foray that had otherwise been lost to the annals of time. Lo and behold, it was ‘Melting Moment’ by POiSON GiRL FRiEND, and, as I hit play, I was soon forever changed—her time with me bearing more resonance than the fleeting suggestion of a moment. Her elusiveness perplexed me, and I instantly needed to know more: who is POiSON GiRL FRiEND?

Well, quickly, I learned that my experience had not been singular; rather, it, in many shades, had been echoed by others fortunate enough to happen upon the hazy sonic stylings of one nOrikO Sekiguchi in online chambers, providing a clue as to the nature of her thorny alias’ allure: the thirst for more. In an interview with Resident Advisor, Mayah Alkhateri—of the Sega Bodega co-parented musical project, Kiss Facility—stated: "When I first found the artwork of Melting Momenton Tumblr [in May 2022], I was intrigued, so I looked up the source of the image … I was even more shocked after listening to the album—it felt like I found hidden treasure. The songs became part of my life; they bring me feelings I've never felt before."

If the 35-minute, six-track outing into pure, tectonic trip-hop bliss is like stumbling upon a trove of opalescent riches (and, oh, it truly is), consider how remarkable it is that Melting Moment actually marks the beginning of Sekiguchi’s journey with electro-acoustic arrangements. That is, although her proto-Internet-typography-emblazoned nom de plume had initially been a group effort on mini-pseudo-album, The Poison Girlfriends, the classically trained, Yokohama-born Sekiguchi’s first inspirations for her own solo work had been British punk and new wave—genres which, up until the turn of the '80s into the '90s, had verily scaffolded her sound.

A rare POiSON GiRL FRiEND photoshoot. Sporting a black beret with a checkered brim, she peers through fog and flora as a figuration of the past. Images courtesy of a recent interview with the artist, via FOND/SOUND. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

This period, however, brought with it more than just a shift for Sekiguchi in groove and desired career path, going from aspiring music commentator to eventual creator. No, it was critically also one of setting; raised in Brazil, the young Sekiguchi journeyed to the UK to stake her claim as a disc jockey in the country’s charismatic club scene, which, at the time, had been one of two minds: splintered between the anarchistic, winged eyeliner aesthetics of Gothic rock, and the rapidly burgeoning influence of blippy, drum machine-driven house music in parallel. Yet, these contrapoints brought no rupture in the culture; it was a space where such rival factions could co-exist, and one which proved vitally formative for Melting Moment (as a debut studio album, already so markedly realized in sound).

In fact, across the alliterative opus, worlds are felt beyond a mere accumulation of its component computerized production processes, melding both tradition and innovation with ease into a forward-thinking landmark moment in suave, sophisticated city-pop. For, much like Bjork’s Debut and the directorial work of Wong Kar-Wai, it’s evident that Sekiguchi is someone who has been profoundly moved by the replete workings of life in the metropolis, albeit of a Mancunian, 808 State-esque acid house variety owing itself best to a release of 1992 (see track two, ‘FACT 2’, as a prime example). It's suitable enough to soundtrack an imagined film by the latter, cinematic and clinically romantic in sensibility, yet whirred along by pulsating breakbeats akin to a selection of surging tracks from the former. The glitches could all too easily backfire, sampling before the technique gained much-maligned credence, but it does not detract from the LP’s sheer ambiance, remaining urgent and additive to the brimming of the fold.

There is nonetheless a poignant melancholia conjured in the spoken word utterances of ‘Melting Moment’, reminiscent of the introspection accompanying a long commute—a pause for reflection that feels ample when situated in one’s substrate. Try to give it an external voice, and it quickly becomes inflexible to articulation, or else frenetic and anxious in tone. ‘HARDLY EVER SMILE(without you)’, the cornerstone of the POiSON GiRL FRiEND canon, is very much this sentiment while it is still malformed, firmly rooted, confident and tenebrous, capitulating to the notion of longing for another. Put it across IRL, and it can never quite compare to the substance of its words. However, within the swirling strings of a quartet that empower this luscious downtempo odyssey, evaporating notions of dream—condensed via the coldness of a heart inside—and distilling them down to appreciable dreamstuff, the minimal and low-key become compliant to the imagination, elegant in execution while deeply gratifying in its ethereal payoff.

Much of ‘Melting Moment’ plays out like so, and it is then that you start to see the double entendre upholding its title: the melting of a moment is one open to interpretation, ephemerally short-lived, yet it is that which carries warmth and the capacity to liquefy. To reiterate, I bear no recollection of the instances that led me to discover POiSON GiRL FRiEND. However, for me, nOrikO Sekiguchi’s power lies in the ability to observe the saturation in all things and transmit that insight over to her niche contingent of listeners.

POiSON GiRL FRiEND  again pictured via archival material, embodying a different character in her black attire and half-up hairdo. Plastic roses and red heels foreground a grey backdrop–is this Sekiguchi’s notion of love incarnate? Taken from that same FOND/SOUND piece, photographer unknown. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.