Schizophrenia 101
Written: Sep 05 '06 (Updated Sep 06 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lovely material that's varied rather-well. Great vocals.
Cons: A couple songs aren't up to snuff.
The Bottom Line: Classical-pop for the masses -- pick this up, you certainly won't be disappointed.
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| shimatani87's Full Review: The Voice - Ayaka Hirahara Movies |
One-hit-wonders the world over would kill to have twenty-two year-old Ayaka Hirahara join their ranks.
Why? Because, by all usual standards, she is a one-hit-wonder: her debut single, "Jupiter" (a song based on the "Jupiter" movement of Holst's symphony "The Planets"), peaked at #2 on Japan's Oricon charts, has enjoyed an extremely-lengthy chart run of one-hundred twenty-three weeks, and has sold nearly a million copies since its release nearly three years ago.
Unfortunately, while Hirahara has been diligently plugging away ever since, she's never been able to achieve the level of popularity her debut single and album received, which is truly a shame because while she's had some less-than-stellar material since then, she's never released anything that's been horrible.
Hirahara's second album, The Voice is a mostly low-key affair that truly sounds like something you'd listen to while cuddled by the fire on a cold winter's night (thus making its release date of late November very appropriate). Continuing in the classically-steeped steps of her debut, the album features a lot of classically-inspired instrumentation, throwing in strings of all sorts, wondrously-gratuitous amounts of piano, the occasional woodwind or brass part, light drums, and very rarely, a pop-esque backing beat, although I hesitate to call this album straight-up pop, as it really doesn't sound like that sort of thing. It's more of a pop-classical hybrid, leaning heavily to the classical side (pure pop wouldn't really make an appearance until Hirahara's fourth album).
This album works, mainly, due to two very important factors: 1) Hirahara's incredible voice -- she's got a tremendously-powerful and deep voice for someone so young, and is able to use it to its fullest extent as she goes from track to track, infusing a wealth of emotion and power into her performances; and 2) the instrumentation itself -- yes, many of the songs may begin to sound alike at first listen, but there's truly much more here, as the composition on every track is impeccable and varied, making for an album with similarities but enough difference to be very impressive.
Stand-out tracks are abundant, whether one enjoys the more upbeat and spirited side of classical-pop (a slightly-tweaked version of the single BLESSING chukufuku, which has an almost ethereal quality to it as it flirts with electric guitar and a rather prominent drum beat, all the while maintaining an air of sophistication as Hirahara leads the listener on a musical journey from start to finish), softer, more delicate pieces (yume no tane, which starts out as a simple piano-and-strings piece -- and uses a tin whistle in its opening, which is both brilliant and calming -- before sweeping into a dramatic chorus and then winding down again), or more mysterious, thought-provoking pieces (kokoro mo you, a track that, from the opening harpsichord-and-piano runs which then go on to underscore the verses alongside some airy sound effects, flamenco guitar, and a steady drum-beat, screams "dramatic!" and "interesting!" -- and all this even before the incredibly-impassioned chorus is unveiled). An English version of Jupiter is also worth a listen, and is slightly sped up when compared to the original -- and Hirahara's English is quite refined.
The album does, unfortunately, have its low points. NIJI NO YOKAN NO YOKAN is useless, a track that exists simply to annoy me, it seems -- it's little more than a live recording of Hirahara wailing off-key and playing the piano badly, and wastes forty-two seconds of the listener's life that could be better spent hearing the rest of the album. Other than that, however, the album's more unimpressive songs aren't bad by any means, they just aren't executed all that well. niji no yokan starts out incredibly promising -- pitting Hirahara's quite-decent performance (at least, in the verses) against one of the album's fastest-paced beats, consisting of an almost "Irish"-sounding track with lots of keyboard, drum, and acoustic guitar; however, it falls apart in the chorus, which adds in a chorus of Hirahara-clones to back her up and just ends up sounding really annoying and ruining the feel of the song. Also not-so-good is negai, one of the disc's slower pieces: slightly-jazzy at times in its piano-part, it simply doesn't work as a song, plodding along over a bland drum beat and guitar. Even Hirahara's performance isn't as good as the rest of the album -- she seems to be falling asleep at the wheel. Song length is also a problem, as certain tracks last a bit longer than they should.
There's a lot to like here, and the lower-quality material doesn't distract all that much -- which is always a good thing. Hirahara may have peaked early, but she's not yet lost the spark that makes her an interesting artist, and The Voice is definitely worth a purchase for the classical-pop fan. Highly-recommended.
Ayaka Hirahara: "The Voice"
[ CDA | MUCD-1114 | ¥3,059 | 2004.11.25 ]
01. BLESSING chukufuku ~Album Mix~ [ 5:57 ]
02. NIJI NO YOKAN NO YOKAN [ 0:42 ]
03. niji no yokan [ 5:16 ]
04. yume no tane [ 5:03 ]
05. I [ 4:59 ]
06. Smile [ 3:03 ]
07. utau kaze [ 4:56 ]
08. kokoro mo you [ 4:28 ]
09. kimi to iru jikan no naka de [ 4:54 ]
10. watashi wo yon de [ 5:04 ]
11. negai [ 5:30 ]
12. Hello Again, JoJo [ 4:54 ]
13. The Voice ~"Jupiter" English Version~ [ 5:50 ]
[ http://www.ayaka-hirahara.com ]
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
shimatani87
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Member: Zach Jones
Location: Urbana, IL
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 17 members
About Me:
St. Louis-bound graduate student with a passion for pop.
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