Kahimi Karie may as well be Takako Minekawa. Quirky alternative Japanese pop singer: check. Sweet, girlish vocals: check. Effortlessly cool electropop soundscapes: check. Occasional production work by Cornelius: check. On the other hand, given that basic template, the two have pretty different styles; whereas Minekawa is a bit quirkier and leans more towards the electronic side of things, Karie is a bit more europop. Towards that end, Karie moved to Paris and collaborated with the likes of Tahiti 80, producer Julien Ribot, pop singer Katerine, and Momus. Karie also seems to have made a bigger impact on the Japanese audience; she hosted her own radio show and wrote the theme song to Chibi Maruko Chan, a popular animated show—beating Puffy AmiYumi’s Teen Titans contribution by almost a decade. She’s also more closely aligned with the Shibuya-Kei scene, having worked with members of Pizzicato Five.

Her sound isn’t quite as jam-packed as P5’s, but it has that same intangible sense of cool about it—a distinctly late-90s, Japanese sort of postmodern retro chic (in other words, postmodern by way of Austin Powers more than Foucault). Karie isn’t quite as much an independent as Minekawa, and so there aren’t as many odd elements like a penchant for Kraftwerk-like keyboards to cause confusion. “Sleepwalking” is a simple concept executed very well: slick, narcotic atmospherics with breathy vocals on top. Karie can change gears quite easily, though; many of her songs are more overtly influenced by the likes of Gainsbourg and French garage rock. But it’s the more ethereal compositions, like “Sleepwalking” and her contribution to the second Katamari Damacy soundtrack, “Blue Orb,” that work the best; less self-conscious, less obviously the product of an outside producer, and less obviously aping an earlier style, it’s much easier to enjoy “Sleepwalking” on its own terms.