Sometimes, for whatever reason, an artist who seems to be underappreciated by the public will occasionally find themselves thrust into the spotlight, if even for a brief moment. With the release of her fourteenth single, HIROMI, Jun Shibata became one of these artists. The disc, which debuted at #5 its first week on the charts, became the thirty year-old chanteuse's third Top Ten hit and first release (single or album) to crack the Top Five.

While it's not her best by a long shot, I applaud Shibata for her success with this release and think it does deserve the accolades it received. HIROMI itself starts out as many Shibata tracks do, as a slower-paced piano ballad (that opens with a very-pretty backwards jaunt down the ivories). However, as the piece approaches the chorus, a single guitar strikes a chord and then -- wait for it -- the song actually jumps in tempo as a simple drum'n'cymbal beat joins in and the arrangement as a whole becomes a lot more lively (especially during the short instrumental breakdown during the bridge, which incorporates the piano into the mix of guitar and drum beautifully). I like this development, and wish Shibata would use it a bit more often; while she does the ballads well, something like this every once in a while is refreshing.

Speaking of Shibata, her performance here is decent, albeit nothing all that special (at least at first). She's always handled her lower-and-middle registers better than her higher one, and this song wisely uses that to its advantage, only having her reach for a couple notes in that weaker part of her voice (which she hits with no problems). The chorus is probably the part of the song where she shines the most, as the verses tend to be her standard straightforward ballad droning; in the chorus, at least, she sounds like she's having fun and there's a bigger hint of emotion in her voice.

ato sukoshi dake..., the disc's B-side, leans a bit more toward the standard Shibata ballad, albeit this one, too, introduces a bit of a faster-paced beat during the song's chorus. This time, however, I don't think it works. The track, riding (oddly enough) on a slowly-plucked guitar line backed by a synth keyboard line, is a simple affair on which Shibata's understated performance shines; when the beat is added and the tempo speeds up the tiny bit that it does, things fall apart. Although it wasn't much to begin with, the arrangement is too cluttered for my liking, as the drums interrupt the flow of the track. As well, Shibata's vocal, which was resting comfortably in the lower part of the melody line, is forced to take a trip into her higher register, and some of her notes are shrill and kind of hard on the ears (although they're not terribly bad). I'm not sure what to think about this track, as the beat works when it's put behind the second verse, but not during the chorus; it's a mystery as to why that particular part of the song screws things up, but I'm going to blame it on the fault of arranger Takefumi Haketa (the man responsible for the arrangement of Chihro Onitsuka's biggest hits), who seems to have fallen asleep at the wheel. When the best part of a song is the trumpet solo in the bridge, you've got problems; this isn't terrible, but it's definitely not one of Shibata's better B-sides.

I'm going to stick this one with a high three-star rating -- it's not terrible, and it's certainly not average, but when I'm only getting two songs for ~$10, they'd both better be quality, and this one fails to deliver on that front. There's something different here, and it's executed well, but arrangement issues seriously kill the second track, at least to my ears. Although this one isn't a complete letdown, Shibata's done better.

Jun Shibata: "HIROMI"
[ CDS | VICL-36197 | ¥1,155 | 2007.01.11 ]
[ CD+DVD | VIZL-214 | ¥1,680 | 2007.01.11 | Ltd ]

01. HIROMI [ 5:18 ]
02. ato sukoshi dake... [ 5:42 ]

[ http://www.shibatajun.com ]

Other Jun Shibata Reviews:

maboroshi (Single) (2005)
hanafubuki (Single) (2006)

Recommended: Yes