Macaroni Empitsu’s first couple of EPs, both released in 2015, established the band’s musical identity as the power-pop heroes of the Japanese rock scene. By the time the four recorded 2017’s Sin, they had reached their next evolutionary step while remaining connected to the sound they had already built. A fierce fondness for ’80s New Wave had come through in the band’s earlier EPs, but here that aspect takes a bit of a back seat. There’s just as much perky power pop busting out of these tracks as before, but it bears more of a contemporary vibe. Hints of a more eclectic set of influences are dropped from the very beginning, as witnessed by the beard-rock wah-wah guitar tones of the opening track, not to mention the momentary appearance of a rather avant-garde discordant riff amid the track’s catchy pop construction. The members of Macaroni Empitsu had already shown themselves to be uncommonly sophisticated musicians, fitting for four people who met in music college, and they flex those muscles even more on Sin, without ever showing off. It’s apparent in the carefully constructed syncopation of the interlocking guitar parts on “Two Much Pain” and the brief but intense guitar solo and elaborately arranged harmony vocals on “Manazashi.” The intro to “Stand by Me” is almost prog, as is the complex timing that emerges in the tune’s startling middle section, but the choruses are so perfectly pop-savvy that you might not even notice if you weren’t paying attention. Those kinds of hijinks continue on the next track, “Maybenavy,” to the extent that one wonders if this is what it would have sounded like if Frank Zappa had led a Japanese pop band. Keyboardist Daiki Hasegawa really gets his synth licks in on those two tunes. And drummer Masayoshi Sato plays his butt off all over these tracks—but he was to leave the band shortly after this record appeared. As on Macaroni Empitsu’s previous release, there are no ballads per se on Sin—the acoustic-based “Yorutoasanoaida” is as close as the record comes to any real respite, with its Beatles-esque chords and a warm, welcoming vibe not unlike vintage Crowded House in spots.