Chai - Wink (LP) - Red/White/Blue Splatter Vinyl

CHAI’s third album, WINK, lands with the kind of cheeky confidence that made the Nagoya quartet such a thrill in the first place, but the glow here is warmer and more intimate. Signing to Sub Pop for this 2021 release, they pivoted from the fizzy guitar bursts of PINK and PUNK toward something sleeker and more elastic. You can hear a group leaning into synthesisers, drum machines and space to breathe. It feels like a record built in bedrooms during a strange year, yet it never sounds small. It’s bright, present and full of life.

The shift is clear from the first moments of Donuts Mind If I Do, a swoon of soft-focus keys and pillowy bass that plays like a slow dance under fluorescent lights. Then Maybe Chocolate Chips, with Chicago rapper Ric Wilson, turns insecurities into a snackable delight. The title nods to moles and freckles as little treats, which is classic CHAI. They’ve long championed a “neo-kawaii” ethos that flips beauty standards on their head, and this tune wraps that idea in a laid-back funk that doesn’t need to shout to stick. Wilson’s verse glides, the groove never breaks a sweat, and suddenly you’re two tracks in and content to stay curled inside WINK’s pocket.

ACTION turns the dial back up. Written in the wake of 2020’s protests, it rides a pumping four-on-the-floor kick and chanted hooks that feel like neon placards in motion. CHAI have always been about collective energy, and this is protest as a dance floor, pragmatic and hopeful. It’s also a neat reminder that even when they mellow, they haven’t dulled their edge. They just learned a new way to aim it.

If there’s a single cut that sums up the album’s playful curiosity, it’s PING PONG! with chiptune trio YMCK. It’s a sugar-rush tribute to table tennis, loaded with 8-bit bleeps and quick-twitch drum programming that could soundtrack a retro arcade, yet the arrangement is detailed and tight. You can practically see the rally bouncing across the stereo field. Then there’s IN PINK, co-crafted with Mndsgn, which stretches out into a woozy, late-night sway. The beat is languid, the synths have that sun-faded pastel feel, and the vocals float in bilingual whispers. It’s the sort of track that makes you think of streetlights on wet bitumen after a summer storm.

Nobody Knows We Are Fun might be the cheekiest mission statement they’ve put on tape. It rides a rubbery bassline and a hook that is both self-deprecating and braggy. CHAI’s harmonies are tightly locked, and the mix keeps everything crisp. The appeal is obvious if you’ve ever seen them live, but WINK bottles that charm with surprising restraint. You hear little details in repeat plays, like the clipped percussive ticks tucked under a chorus or a synth line that only reveals itself in the final pass.

Lyrically, the record keeps things tender and communal. English and Japanese lines weave together, and the emotional through-line is acceptance that doesn’t feel preachy. They still have their punk heart, but the armour has been traded for a hug. It’s easy to imagine these songs drifting out of a share house kitchen on a Sunday arvo, cooking something comforting while your mates trickle in, one by one.

If you’re the sort who judges records by how they spin, this is a ripper on wax. The low end is warm, the top end sparkles without going brittle, and those synth pads bloom nicely at volume. WINK vinyl tends to disappear quickly for that reason, and if you’re building a shelf of CHAI albums on vinyl, it’s a quiet essential. I found mine flicking through a Melbourne record store on a rainy day, but you’ll also find plenty of CHAI vinyl if you prefer to buy CHAI records online. For collectors hunting vinyl records Australia wide, it’s an easy recommendation. It slots between after-hours soul and indie pop, and plays beautifully as a full front-to-back listen.

Reception-wise, the album drew strong notices from the usual heavyweights, with Pitchfork, The Guardian and NME all praising the band’s softer turn without losing their spark. That tracks. WINK doesn’t try to outgun earlier highlights. It invites you in, passes the aux, and lets everyone add a layer. By the end, you feel like you’ve been part of something gentle and alive. It’s CHAI letting you see the wink up close, and it suits them to a tee.