Review: Chie Sawa was indeed just 23 when she released her sole, soulful full-length city pop come soft rock record: 23 - Twenty-Three Years Old. Now the LP returns to the fore due to the reissuing efforts of one DJ Yoshizawa, whose preoccupation with music in this milieu has also extended to the likes of Junko Hirotan and Kyoko Omiya & Orange as of late. One of many rare and obscure Japanese groove records to have been featured in Yoshizawa's record guidebook Wamono A To Z - which documented many of Japan's least-spotted 'wamono disco' records, i.e. disco and funk LPs that coincided with the nascent 70s concept of wamono, which in art parlance essentially refers to the fusion of Japanese traditions with Western elements: be they ceramic, sartorial or musical. Sawa's debut here is as beguiling as it is sweet, centring on a mellow 60s/70s chic with a swinging pop rock style.
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