Bo Ningen's latest album, III, is released through Stolen Records. Jehnny Beth of Savages guests on the album and the band, for the first time, sings some of their new tracks in English.

Japan's Bo Ningen was born after Taigen and Kohhei’s bands played on the same bill. The idea was to leave ‘rock’ behind and commit to something much weirder. The end result is a rock based acid folk sound that is hard to ignore.

Personally, this isn't the sort of music I'd voluntarily listen to. It's the sort of band that you have to be either wasted, tripping or high to "get". As I don't indulge in any of these (apart from the odd glass or two of wine now and then) I was left listening to the raw talents of a band that didn't really make much of an impression on me.

The album contains 10 tracks (53 min, 05 sec) and whilst they may go down a storm in Japan, I was left scratching my head, trying to figure what all the fuss was about. Instrumentally they are interesting, but vocally the muffled noise and mix that appears to be designed to deliberately hide the vocals left me questioning whether even the band are happy with their singer.

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Nick Smithson