Hitomi Shimatani's fifth original studio album, Heart & Symphony was released in early October and received a warm welcome to the tune of approximately 26,000 copies sold its first week, managing to grab the #7 spot on Japan's weekly Oricon music charts. This was quite a feat for two major reasons, the first being Hitomi's relatively small fanbase (and thus, lack of popularity); the second, and possibly more important reason, is the fact that this album, for all intensive purposes, is a "classical pop" album, a genre not many Japanese seem to avail themselves of.

Before the actual review, though, I'd like to give both Hitomi and her staff a note of congratulation, because this album is quite possibly one of the best I've ever heard. Keep up the good work!

Thanks to the contribution of one of the world's most well-renowned music groups - that is, the Berlin Score Orchestra - the album is filled with a lush, airy, natural sound that truly sets the music apart. (Although the Berlin Score Orchestra performs a majority of the new tracks, orchestral duties were shared with a Japanese group who also contribute to several.) This quality is noticeable on almost all the new album tracks, but especially voice, an up-tempo piece whose opening atmosphere simply screams to be played in Riverdance; the orchestra is joined by a flamenco guitar whose rapidly-plucked notes immediately bring to mind Michael Flatley and his colorful troupe of dancing elves and fairies. Hitomi herself adds nothing but goodness to the mix, delivering an energetic performance that rises and lowers when called for; it seems on this song, as well as a majority of the others, her enka background shows a bit more. Nonetheless, the perfect mix of instrumentation and vocals make this one of, if not the, best songs on the album.

Continuing with the orchestral beauty, we're given one of the singles from the album, entitled ~Mermaid~, whose opening, hauntingly beautiful organ solo calls to mind the Gothic cathedrals of England and France. Transitioning into Hitomi's familiar ethnic-pop category, but adding an almost R&B-like beat, the song progresses with an emotionally-driven performance from Hitomi, adding the organ back in to the chorus, giving the song an almost medieval feel. Probably the best single from the album, the song stands out as a truly inventive and first-of-its-kind piece for this artist.

Mahiru no Tsuki, Hitomi's twentieth single, is the first of its kind. Hailed as Hitomi's "anniversary" the song is a calm, relaxed piano-and-orchestra ballad that while being remarkably "typical" as far as ballads go (in terms of instrumentation and lyrical content) truly shows that Japan's "cover girl" is truly capable of singing almost any form of song and making it sound stellar. A pleasant surprise, this one was.

The single run continues with Falco (blame Windows Media Player, not me!). This song steps back into Hitomi's familiar up-tempo category and even sounds similar to some of her past songs. Incorporating sitars and other forms of Middle Eastern/Egyptian instruments and hitting the listener in the face with them, the song does nothing stylistically impressive/innovative as far as Hitomi's music is concerned. As usual, Hitomi gives a fine performance and the song even manages to evoke imagery of blistering hot deserts and starry nights through which Falco flies; however, it's almost too short to appreciate. It's a good track, but nothing all too special.

Hitomi Shimatani loves Latin-flavored music: her first album was filled with it, and every album since then has had at least one, if not more, Latin-esque tracks included. Although not quite the same as her other Latin songs, Sarasoujou's opening flamenco guitar fit the bill. After the opening run, the song transforms into another piano-and-orchestra ballad, but adds bells which give the song an almost Christmas-y flavor. Staying at relatively the same tempo, the flamenco guitars return in the bridge, then drop out for the remainder of the song. Hitomi's vocal is relaxed when needed, but urgent-sounding when it counts, bringing life to another beautiful song.

Taiyoushin brings us back to the up-tempo category, opening with an orchestrally-driven techno beat that brings back memories of Hitomi's faster songs. The pairing of an orchestra with dance music often makes for interesting results, and here it works, as they give Hitomi room to breathe as she makes her vocal runs, singing about the warmth and glory of the sun god. Her performance here is good, but not quite as good as it could have been - the vocal almost sounds like it's been put through a vocoder in some parts (mainly lines in the verses); it picks up in the chorus, however.

A mid-tempo, laid back song defines Hitomi's lyrical contribution to this album: Frame. Driven less by the orchestra and more by a guitar, some drums, and piano, the song brings the album to a close in a good way. Hitomi's performance is extremely relaxed here - it seems she had fun recording this song, as did whomever sings with her in the chorus. Fun would be the word to describe this song, as there's no shortage of it at any point.

Garnet Moon is the final single from the album (released as a double A-side with a ballad called Inori that wasn't included here). It, like Falco is remarkably similar to a majority of Hitomi's up-tempo, ethno-pop dance songs. This one even uses the standard club beat as part of its background. A bit generic, the song lacks a major memorable hook but is still good nonetheless; Hitomi's performance once again sounds a bit vocoder-ed at times, though remaining quite good. This is probably the weakest track on the album, as it presents nothing new as far as material goes and, in addition, was already included (albeit in a different version) on Hitomi's special concept album crossover released in February. A good song, but the spot seems a bit wasted.

The closing will be short - Hitomi Shimatani's best original album (I've made that decision while writing this review) has been released. It'll be hard to top this one, so I'm anxiously waiting what she's got in store for us next.

Encore! Encore!: Sky High, Salvia, Mona Lisa, kokoro, Viola (crossover version) [Bonus Track on the CD-only version of the album.]

Recommended: Yes