For his debut album, 2012’s Diorama, Kenshi Yonezu stepped out of the shadows of Vocaloid, the synthesiser software that lets users write songs using a preset bank of voices. The singer-songwriter gained attention under the name Hachi, uploading self-produced tracks using Hatsune Miku, the most popular voice in Vocaloid. While using Miku for his music earned him praise and success as well as creative freedom, Yonezu soon felt her voice might become a distraction rather than a safety net. Miku’s own iconography grew more popular after her creators launched a virtual character to attach to her voice, possibly overshadowing the identity behind Hachi’s own music. Yonezu decided to go by his own name and sing his own songs on Diorama to prove his worth. Yonezu envisioned Diorama as a loose concept album, set in a barren, abandoned town whose protagonists are often trying to escape. The math-rock- and post-punk-inspired sound he used as Hachi carries over to the production here, its asymmetrical build and antsy tempos lending a sense of unease to the album’s overarching narrative. While the songs are stylistically consistent, the lyrics come from varying angles as Yonezu assumes the voices of the town’s imaginary residents. He teeters from earnest and sombre in the emo love letter “Vivi” to belligerently playful on “Dagashiyashoubai”, where he sings from the perspective of a shopkeeper in a dystopian wasteland. Rather than a departure, Diorama acts as a bridge connecting Yonezu’s past as Hachi to his later J-pop works. The absence of Hatsune Miku helps place the album in the lineage of contemporary rock acts instead of his producer peers in the Vocaloid community. His musical influences are more legibly displayed here than his subsequent albums: the breezier ends of the rock production in particular echo the pop punk of BUMP OF CHICKEN, a favourite band when he was younger. With nothing to hide behind, Yonezu shares more of himself in Diorama, reintroducing himself in the process.