Going Home never sounded so good.
Written: May 20 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Well-rounded debut album displaying Aki's strength as an artist.
Cons: A couple tracks aren't up to snuff.
The Bottom Line: Worth a purchase even if you don't speak a lick of Japanese. She's that good, and the music is that enjoyable.
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| shimatani87's Full Review: Home - Angela Aki |
Home is the debut album by half-Japanese/half-American singer/songwriter/pianist Angela Aki. The album became an instant success, debuting at #2 (second to only Hikaru Utada’s comeback album ULTRA BLUE) and selling 121,064 copies in its first week. It has since seen a resurgence on the charts (although it never fell out of the Top 100, to my knowledge) with the release of Aki’s newest single, SAKURA-iro, and has sold, to date, 521,586 copies.
Although part of the album’s original successes came from Aki’s involvement with the video gaming juggernaut that is the Final Fantasy series, as well as contributing a song to a popular anime series (BLOOD ), the music on this album is what really makes it shine. Like her American “counterparts” Vanessa Carlton and Tori Amos (to name a few), Aki seamlessly builds songs around the piano that sound modern and hip, covering a wide array of genres; one of the album’s greatest strengths is that it gives Aki a multitude of musical backdrops, and she never once sounds fake or poseur-ish. Her compositional and lyrical chops, when put to the test (Aki composed and wrote the lyrics to all the songs on here, save one), reveal a woman who’s had both her struggles and successes in life and expresses herself adeptly through her music.
However, while Aki is adept at writing and performing, sometimes her tracks take a couple listens to really sink in, and some just don’t go over well at all (at least to my ears). “The Final Fantasy song” -- Kiss Me Good-Bye -- presented here in a Japanese version (as opposed to the English version played within the game) is one of these; its arrangement is busy and loud, as befitting an epic ballad, but the strings and drums that play in the background overpower Aki and her piano at times, as if they’re competing to see who can be the loudest. Aki, too, overdoes it, stringing her higher notes out longer than need be and nearly shouting during the chorus (given the circumstances, it’s almost understandable); as well, her pronunciation of “kiss” borders more on “kEEs” at times, which aggravates me to no end, given that she’s fluent in English. onegai, a song Aki wrote when she first returned to Japan in 2002, feels incomplete and unnecessary. At 2:52, it’s the shortest song on the album and consists of only a ploddingly-slow piano part with incessantly repetitive lyrics. Perhaps Aki included it for sentimental value (she says the song was written about her struggles once she returned to Japan), but it’s kind of boring, and one of the weakest tracks here.
The rest of the album, however, is pleasant and well-played. The singles -- HOME, kokoro no senshi and This Love -- display Aki’s ability to handle sweeping, dramatic piano-centric ballads, but they’re actually some of the less-impressive tracks here, although they’re not bad by any stretch of the imagination. The tracks that really made me sit up and take notice are ones where Aki takes chances and plays around with composition and genre:
MUSIC is, at its core, a standard pop song – there’s the catchy chorus, the peppy, upbeat tempo, the typical instruments like drums and bass – but Aki’s piano (which both underscores the track and takes the instrumental lead throughout the song) adds something to the song. I don’t know if I’d call it an “organic” sound or a layer of “complexity”, but it works. Her vocal, as well, which is spot-on, playful, and inspired, makes the track all that much more enjoyable, because it’s easy to tell she’s having fun.
uchuu is one of those songs that takes a couple listens to really appreciate. At first, it sounds similar to the other upbeat tracks here, but an in-depth listen reveals a song that defines “improvisation”. Aki blazes forward in a wall of sound created by her hard-hitting piano and a very strong drum beat and plays around with everything, from arrangement (the song sounds like a quiet ballad at times and a rousing call-to-arms at others) to composition (there are a couple jazzy piano riffs in here that are to-die-for) and lyrics (the song tells the story of a mourning woman who eventually realizes her lover will always be there, and the dynamics of the song reflect this) to create a track that is one of the best on the album, and one of her personal best. Although the repeated “uchuu~” at the end, during the song’s lyrical, emotional, and compositional climax, might seem a bit much, Aki’s delivery – both there and throughout the song, as she nuances her voice with just the right amount of power and emotion – is chilling. Definitely worth a listen.
Originally included on Aki’s independently-released mini-album ONE as a solo piano piece, Rain is brought to the major-label stage and given a complete makeover. Aki redid the vocals for the entire song, and while not much changed on that front, her delivery is spirited and uplifting, and there’s a sense that she’s finally achieved the “pacth[ing] up [of] love” that’s talked about in the lyrics. Adding to this sense is the full band that is brought in to play alongside Aki, and they do a good thing by making themselves known gradually rather than swinging in from the beginning; the song starts off as normal, although the tempo’s a bit faster, and then a quiet drum beat joins before the entire band chimes in during the first chorus. It’s a structure that works well to create a new song out of an old one. I almost like it more than the original.
oogesa ni "ai shi te ru" displays Aki’s solo-piano at its best. A ballad, the track is slower than most of the album, although not too slow as to become disinteresting. The composition is one of Aki’s best, bringing forth a jazzy side not seen before that is refreshing and fun. Like many of her other pieces, the song builds in intensity as it approaches the end, and Aki’s near-perfect vocal reflects this perfectly as she embodies the wish to overstate just how much she loves someone. While on first listen I found this to be one of the more boring tracks, I’ve come to like it, as it’s not as simple as I first thought. Of the ballads here, this is probably the best, as it because it shows Aki doing what she does best – singing and playing the piano with nothing else to get in the way.
HALLELUJAH, in arrangement, sounds similar to many of the other upbeat tracks here, but the nature of the song is different than that of, say, MUSIC. Here, the point is to inspire and encourage people to “call out for help”, and the song’s general feel reflects that. The piano, which is played beautifully as always, has a comforting, familiar feel that blends well with the drum beat (which, too, somehow sounds uplifting), and the rest of the arrangement feeds this feeling. What really gives the song its tone, however, is Aki’s vocal, which is forceful but understanding, as she tells her listeners to become bright, like a light, and “feel, come on and feel”. I really enjoy this one because, while it has a similar sound to some of the other upbeat stuff, it manages to distinguish itself in a really interesting way. (The title, as well, reflects Aki’s Christian beliefs, although no explicit mention of God is made.)
Home, as an album, is a strong collection of songs that show a young woman coming into her own both as an artist and a person. There are personal reflections here, as well as songs that exist to inspire and entertain, and the emotion invested in each track is evident. Angela Aki is a talented, refreshing voice in music, and makes the quip that “music is a universal language” all that much more true. Highly, highly recommended.
Angela Aki: “Home”
[ CDA | ESCL-2850 | ¥3,059 | 2006.06.14 ]
[ CD DVD | ESCL-2848~2849 | ¥3,360 | 2006.06.14 | Ltd ]
01. Kiss Me Good-Bye [ 5:13 ]
02. Love Is Over Now [ 4:49 ]
03. kokoro no senshi [ 5:11 ]
04. MUSIC [ 4:53 ]
05. This Love [ 4:42 ]
06. onegai [ 2:52 ]
07. uchuu [ 4:51 ]
08. Rain [ 3:57 ]
09. kiseki [ 3:32 ]
10. oogesa ni “ai shi te ru” [ 5:51 ]
11. HALLELUJAH [ 4:44 ]
12. HOME [ 4:58 ]
13. Your Love Song [ 6:06 ]
[ http://www.angela-aki.com ]
Other Angela Aki Reviews:
ONE (2005)
HOME (Single) (2005)
SAKURA-iro (Single) (2007)
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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