Level3 (stylized in all uppercase) is the fourth studio album by Japanese girl group Perfume. It was released on October 2, 2013, by Universal J and Perfume Records. Level3 marks Perfume's fourth consecutive album to be fully produced by Japanese producer and Capsule member Yasutaka Nakata, while Perfume contributes to the album as the lead, background vocalists, and executive producers through their self-titled record label. Recorded in Japanese and English language, Level3 is an electronic dance album that borrows numerous musical elements including J-pop, house music, and technopop.
Level3 was recorded and mixed in Japan, with the assistance of Nakata. Six different formats were released to promote the album; a standalone CD, a limited CD and DVD bundle, and a digital release. It was re-released in May 2014 as an additional bonus CD standalone edition, a 12-inch double LP, and a digital release. Two different artworks were issued for the album's cover sleeve; one has Perfume inside the set of their music video "1mm", whilst the second features body shots of Perfume and printed on transparent sheets.
Upon the album's release, it was met with favourable reviews from music critics. Critics noted the musical improvement from their previous release, and commended Nakata's production standards and its commercial appeal. Level3 was listed by several critics as one of the best albums of 2013. Commercially, Level3 was a success. It became Perfume's fourth studio album to reach the top spot on Japan's Oricon Albums Chart, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of 250,000 units. The album charted on Korea's Gaon Album Chart and Taiwan's G-Music Albums Chart.
Four singles were released from Level3, including one promotional. Its lead single "Spring of Life" reached number two on Japan's Oricon Singles Chart and atop the Japan Hot 100 chart. The second, third, and fourth singles; "Spending All My Time", "Mirai no Museum", and "Magic of Love" achieved similar success, put peaked at two on both record charts respectively. Each single was certified gold by the RIAJ company, Perfume's only album to achieve this. Promotional single "1mm" reached number nine on the Japan Hot 100 chart. Perfume promoted the album on their 2013 Dome Tour.
Background and development In February 2012, Perfume departed from Tokuma Japan Communications and signed a deal with Universal Music Japan in order to release their work through global markets. Universal Music Japan partly-obtained rights of all of Perfume's work with Tokuma Japan Communication, but re-released JPN digitally in March 2012 in over fifty countries to begin their global releases; the group's earlier work were released afterwards. Two months later, Perfume announced their established self-titled vanity label that would co-release all of their material with Universal Music Japan. They later confirmed the label was to published their overseas releases and formats only. In August 2013, Perfume announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled Level3. Perfume and Universal Japan enlisted long-term collaborator, Japanese producer and Capsule member Yasutaka Nakata, to produce the album; this marks Perfume's fourth consecutive studio album to be fully produced by Nakata. Perfume began recording the album in Japan around mid-2012 with Nakata.
The material from Level3 took nearly two years to produce and record, making it one of Perfume's longer spanning projects to date. This is due to Perfume's scheduling conflicts with studio time and live performances at concerts and gigs. The material marks Perfume's fourth consecutive studio album to be fully composed, written, and arranged by Nakata. Perfume member Nocchi revealed that Nakata only let them listen to the song compositions one day before recording it; "It's so much fun to get new material, and getting it on the day of the recording ensures a good tension. We prefer not to practice too much in advance. If we listen too much, or practice too much, before the recording, our habits tend to overcome the freshness..." Perfume member A-Chan viewed Level3 as a concept album, stating "We see each album as being like a concept album. So Perfume right now is at a dance music stage [more than straight pop]. This doesn't mean we're going in this direction from here but this is just one of our aspects."
Composition
Level3 is an electronic dance album that borrows numerous musical elements including pop, house music, and technopop. Daniel Robson from The Japan Times identified the album a "pop album" with no hint of J-pop music. Patrick St. Michael from the same publication and commented that the new album mixes were not "improvements" in musical development, but had called it "catchy, pop music." Noticing the "cohesiveness" of their music, Nia from the publication Selective Hearing had commented "The girls of Perfume remarked how Level3 was probably their most dance-able album."
In an interview with Complete Music Update, A-Chan stated about the musical development of the album: "It was as lot of fun! I enjoyed recording different types of songs. Different types of rhythms and atmosphere." Perfume member Kashiyuka further elaborated; "I enjoy recording our albums more than standalone singles because we get more songs! The diversity of the songs makes me excited, like I'm one of the listeners." According to A-Chan, she stated that Perfume and Nakata wanted to "experiment" more within 2013 for the album. However, due to intense work schedules, Perfume asked Nakata to create normal dance music.
As Perfume began to focus their activities on an international level, Level3 places some emphasis on English language lyrics; according to the lyric booklet provided by Universal Music Japan and Perfume Records, "Sleeping Beauty" is recorded completely in English, as is the majority of "Spending All My Time". Regarding the use of English language Kashiyuka stated she found it hard: "I struggled really hard with the pronunciation. When I'm singing along to the melody, my accent becomes more Japanese – like katakana-speak, so I'm wondering what people outside Japan will think when they hear it..." Both Nocchi and A-Chan also found it hard recording the song in English due to their "shy" nature, but A-Chan has previous history of using English language and found it slightly easy.
Songs The album's opening track, "Enter the Sphere", is a rework from the entrance music on Perfume's first world tour; the re-worked version utilizes electro house beats and melodies, with the lyrics wanting fans to enter the world of music. "Spring of Life" is a dance song that fuses musical elements of club-oriented electronic and pop music. Tracks like "Magic of Love", "Clockwork", "Dream Land" and "Furikaeru to Iru yo" incorporate "calm" and "mellow" technopop and electropop elements. "1mm" was noted by critics for its 1980s synthpop and chillout elements. The girls vocal range was noted as the highest range than any other track from Level3. The fifth track, "Mirai no Museum", has been described as a "dreamy" and "childish" dance song that was often criticized for interrupting the musical delivery of other albums tracks; St. Michel reviewed the song and felt it was "painfully out of place" on the track list.
The seventh and twelfth album tracks; "Party Maker" and "Sleeping Beauty" were compared to the group's previous tracks "Butterfly" from Game (2008), and "Edge" from Triangle (2009). The reasoning was because of its composition; Alex Shenmue from Land of the Rising Sound noted that the composition was the main focus, and overlapped Perfume's vocals. The album contains three b-side tracks on the album; the drum and bass "Point" from "Spring of Life", the Middle Eastern music and Western-influenced "Handy Man" from "Magic of Love", and the "glitchy" "Daijobanai" from "Mirai no Museum". "Magic of Love", "Spending all My Time", and "Spring of Life" were remixed by Nakata for the album; The Japan Times''' journalist Ian Martin reviewed the album on his own blog, said that "the new mixes do work a lot better here than [the other mixes] on JPN...".
Release and packagingLevel3 was released in three different formats on October 2, 2013 by Universal Music Japan and Perfume Records. The standalone CD format features the fourteen tracks in a jewel case, with first press editions including an obi and a bonus poster. The CD and DVD format features the fourteen tracks, and a bonus DVD with the music videos to "1mm". The DVD also included two live performances in Japan. The album was housed in a unique transparent sleeve, that featured the album's booklet at the back of the CD. The jewel case featured 10 transparent sheets of Perfume that came apart once removed from the CD. First press editions included an obi and a bonus poster. The final format was a digital release that was released globally on October 16 that same year. The CD and DVD format was released in South Korea by Universal Music Korea, but used the cover sleeve and booklet from the standalone CD.
Both two cover sleeves for Level3 were photographed by Japanese photographer and designer Hiroshi Manaka. The standalone CD artwork has Perfume inside a grey room, standing behind neon LED lamps; A-Chan is seen closer to the camera, with Kashiyuka in the middle, and Nocchi furthest away. This look was further adapted in the music video for the group's single "1mm". The CD and DVD format features a body shot of Perfume in multi-coloured dresses; this look was furthered adapted in scenes from "1mm", and were printed on the 10 transparent sheets. The digital releases uses the standalone CD cover sleeve. The booklet and photo shoot were designed by Daichi Shiono.
Re-issue
During the group's North American tour in September 2014, Perfume confirmed that they would re-release Level 3 worldwide. That same month, Perfumed also confirmed they signed a deal with North American dance record label Astralwerks to re-release the album digital and physically in the US on October 7, 2014. Daisuke Kikuchi from The Japan Times confirmed that the album would contain two new remixes of "Spending All My Time"; the first being a radio remix, and the second handled by Belgian production and DJ duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. In a press interview with Astralwerks, Perfume revealed its re-release was to promote their concert tours in North America and prompt future prospects for American promotion and the American audience.