* Please note: the album info for this release is slightly misspelled. The correct title is "SHANTI". (A Sanskrit word meaning "inner peace".)

As an artist, if there's one thing that Hitomi Shimatani isn't, she's certainly not boring. From her enka-flavored debut in 1999 to the straightforward pop of her first four albums, Shimatani has covered almost every genre imaginable, finally finding a niche and style that worked for her on her crossover and Heart & Symphony albums.

Back in 2002, however, Shimatani hadn't yet found that calling. She was, though, enjoying the peak of her popularity: her cover of the Village Singers' 1968 hit amairo no kami no otome became an overnight sensation, scoring big both at karaoke and on the charts (it scored Shimatani her highest weekly debut at #4) and vaulting Shimatani into the spotlight once again. The success just kept on coming with the release of this disc, her second album. Japan ate it up, propelling the album to the top of the charts and giving Shimatani some much-needed credibility in the industry. She wasn't just pretty face with decent vocals anymore.

Was the success of this album justified? Yes. Is this album so good that it deserved the top spot on the charts? I must disagree there; while the album certainly has some standout pieces, it feels, to me, like the weakest of Shimatani's efforts so far.

The album clocks in at a longer-than-average sixteen tracks (seventeen, if one counts the first-pressing bonus track), the longest of any Shimatani album. Three of these are short introduction/interlude tracks and one is a remix, leaving the producers with twelve actual songs -- the length of a "normal" Shimatani album -- with which to craft the album. They've done a fine job of representing a number of genres here, but this lack of a cohesive thread really hurts the album; while Shimatani displays her versatility as an artist, she's never really given a chance to shine, as she is continually forced to adapt to another style as the album goes on. This is reflected in her vocals, which are wonderfully-performed as always, but don't seem to have the same power and richness found in her more-focused works.

While I normally detest intro/interlude tracks, they serve an interesting function on this album, "dividing" the album into sections, if you will. The first part of the album (tracks two, three, and four) is the standard Shimatani pop with a bit of a flair: slightly-tropical-sounding SHANTI with its addictive chorus, skittish stop-and-go rhythm, and playful, driven vocals from Shimatani; amairo no kami no otome, opening with a ukelele solo that harkens back to the original before turning into a bouncy, guitar-driven, easily-karaoke-able track that Shimatani performs with gutso; and Glorious Day, probably the most interesting track on the album -- a rollicking gospel number (with brass section and echoing backup singers and random shouting and "GLORIA!"-ing to boot) that Shimatani co-wrote and performs amicably, even if the style is a bit jarring.

The middle section of the album focuses mainly on R&B, which seems to be more of a "following the trend" thing rather than a permanent decision (as Shimatani's done very little of that type of material since). A.S.A.P is a midtempo, pleasant-if-by-the-numbers track that Shimatani delivers on, as usual and She is... gets props for displaying some attitude -- the gritty guitar-and-violin-led instrumentation, the fierce edge Shimatani puts to her performance, and the lyrics (which talk of a girls' night that turns into a relationship-breaker) all come together to make it work. Remember of you, however, is the best of the three; a rather typical ballad with all the fingersnaps and piano and rising crescendo at the end, the real star is Shimatani's vocal, which shines above the quieter instrumentation. She never goes into histrionics but does belt a couple times, emotively at that. Very pretty.

Closing the album is a mishmash of styles that runs the gamut from more R&B (the slightly louge-y single yasashii KISS no mitsukekata), Latin (freeze, an intensly-catchy track that induces a bit of chair-dancing), and more simple, straighforward pop. The track that stands out here is Hello!, a very easy-on-the-ears track with lots of synthesizer, guitar, and drums; what makes this one work, though, is the laid-back performance Shimatani gives, relating the story of how everybody wants somebody, but she's going to keep looking until she finds the right guy. It's a very "cute" song that Shimatani delivers on, especially in the "WTF?!" bridge where Shimatani announces to the boys around her that she'll "kick-a [their] @ss" if they try and use any dirty tricks on her.

In the end, how much one enjoys this album depends on the ability to stomach several different genres all at once. It's a very pleasant album, but it may take a couple listens before everything sinks in. Recommended.

Hitomi Shimatani: "SHANTI"
[ CDA | AVCD-17095 | 3,059 yen | 2002.06.12 ]

01. ~introduction~ [ 0:49 ]
02. SHANTI [ 4:09 ]
03. amairo no kami no otome [ 4:04 ]
04. Glorious Day [ 5:30 ]
05. ~interlude~ [ 0:24 ]
06. A.S.A.P. ~as soon as possible~ [ 4:44 ]
07. She is... [ 3:14 ]
08. Remember of you [ 5:07 ]
09. ~interlude~ [ 0:37 ]
10. yasashii KISS no mitsukekata [ 4:30 ]
11. freeze ~uwareta natsu no hi~ [ 4:04 ]
12. Hello! [ 3:22 ]
13. beloved [ 4:39 ]
14. farewell [ 4:00 ]
15. colors [ 5:10 ]
16. amairo no kami no otome -HIRO KURETANI REMIX- [ 5:45 ]

First-Pressing Only Bonus Track
17. Single Hits Non-stop Mega Mix ~Trans Mission Mega Mix~ [ 10:46 ]

[ http://www.avexnet.or.jp/shimatani ]

Other Hitomi Shimatani Reviews:

tsuioku+LOVE LETTER (2004)
Heart & Symphonhy (2005)

Recommended: Yes