About

The romantic preoccupations of Japanese vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Noriko Sekiguchi—known by the stylized mononym nOrikO—transcend language. She’s in the proud history of voices that break through the rave fog, carrying the la-da-dee, la-dee-das and the sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing. In her songs as POiSON GiRL FRiEND, she recounts love’s highs and lows with simple honesty. Her mischievous sing-song mourns and reminesces in English, French, and Japanese over layered blends of 1980s-style club beats and synthetic strings with the melancholic sensibility of trip-hop. The music blooms to fill the space left in love’s absence.

Though it runs just 35 minutes, Melting Moment feels grandiose in scope. “Fact 2,” the song that plays out like a disconnected call with an ex, is a tense storm of competing sounds: the cowbell-like breakbeat, the low rattle of what could pass for tambourine, the screechy guitar. Apart from that opening goodbye—It’s over, my love—nOrikO’s voice doesn’t break through the hurricane until about halfway through. When she speaks, her words pierce the heart: “Do you love me like you used to do?/I still love you more than everything.” By letting the production do the talking, nOrikO invites us into the strained feeling on the far side of a tense phone call. At a 1992 label showcase, she held a mobile phone to the mic and let it screech. She ends the song on a note of longing, whispering, “I still love you.” — (via Pitchfork)

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Taking the name of her high school band, Noriko began to work on what would become her debut album, Melting Moments. Its fresh trip-hop/French pop/electronic sound is a testament to the sonic ingredients she was digesting in the London club scene. The album’s sense of overarching sense of longing stems from Noriko’s own loneliness she felt at the time.

Dreamy strings billow over the icy dance beats that hint at early trip-hop on “Hardly Ever Smile (Without You).” Noriko’s comes across like the pained sighs of longing as she describes how perfect this love could be if only someone would break the ice. So many unique elements come together to create the fluttering race of your heart to the plush pinks of attraction that make you daydream of what could be. Anyone who adored Björk’s playful mix of club beats, earthy bass lines, and angelic strings will love everything this song has to offer. — (via Medium)

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There's a wide-eyed innocence to Melting Moment's messaging that often undercuts the murky sonics. "The Future Is Now" feels both prescient and ever-pressing; a hopeful, '90s-era call for peace that evokes US infomercials ("Are you satisfied? Do you really feel joy?") while positioning itself on the front lines of the climate emergency: "Why don't we try / To save our planet / For our children?" Elsewhere, the album's title track sticks its head in the clouds for an existential reverie that alludes to the end of a relationship: "You will never see / You will never know / I shall never say / I should never ask / Was it dream? / Was it life?"

Sekiguchi flits between singing in English and French, giving Melting Moment another of its defining characteristics: a linguistic flair that conjures cross-cultural fantasy. "In my case, I seem to create a completely different image when I put my voice through the mic," she wrote on her website. "I feel like I'm transported to a different world." The indietronica sound of the '90s was awash with French touch, from Saint Etienne to Stereolab, and Sekiguchi's keen ear gleefully picked it up. "Quoi" is a house-inspired cover of Jane Birkin's understated 1986 showstopper; in it, Sekiguchi even manages to emanate Birkin's famously whispered vocals while reaching for the high notes. — (via Resident Advisor)

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Label: Sad Disco
Format: Vinyl, LP, Mini-Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Red
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1992
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: Synth-pop, Electro

File under: Japanese Pop
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