On “The Fruit Not Yet Ripe,” a single from Mei Ehara’s new third record, All About McGuffin (Kakubarhythm), the singer-songwriter wistfully coos in breathy Japanese: “It’ll probably be the same, even if tomorrow comes.” Sure enough, the album slides into the same comfy blend of retro funk, lounge, and city-pop groove that characterizes her first two releases. Throughout All About McGuffin , she gently nods to the lovely aural wallpaper made by the likes of Japanese pop stalwart Haruomi Hosono, yacht rockers Steely Dan, indie-pop greats Pizzicato Five, and her sometime collaborator Cornelius (aka Keigo Oyamada), but ultimately she wanders off into her own misty-eyed decadent transcendence.

The familiar references are a large part of the pleasure here. Ehara’s music breezily evokes a fa

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