Kalafina - After Eden - more thoughts

For the last two days all I've been listening to are the tracks from the After Eden album and my reaction to the album has gone from favourable to really rather liking it.

1. Eden - My initial reactions and my current reaction is still the same.  It's nice, breezy and kind of cheery.  But ultimately, still not really my cup of tea.  The harmony is what keeps me from totally not liking this song.  A big part of me liking Kajiura Yuki's work and Kalafina is the harmony.  The chorus and the bridge works best for me because the harmony comes through really big time.  Yup... still not my cup of tea... it's nice enough but I would be very surprise if it becomes my favourite song from this album.

2. sandpiper - I like it more than I did two days ago, it's nice... classic Kalafina stuff.  I will like this but it won't be a favourite for me too.

3. magia - always liked it. :)

4. 九月 - It's pretty in parts.  I rather like it.  Hikaru sounds really sweet in the opening.  The bits I like best are the way they sing "kitto.." and "sotto", sort of staccato and lightly.  I'm transcribing from sound here, so the romanji maybe wrong.  The open contrasts very nicely with the heavier tone of the next section which is led by Wakana.  Keiko is in support again but I like her support work lots and as usual, her support work is stellar throughout the album.  I must say though that I don't really like Hikaru's "yashashiku" echo right after Wakana's... somehow it just seems too reminiscent of their pass work when Hikaru always seems to sing a line like that.

5. in your eyes - Yup, still sounds kind of bossa nova / world music to me... it's kind of like Eden in its tone, really breezy... and like Eden conjures up images of wide open spaces.  There is a little too much of Hikaru in this for me and I actually welcomed the moments when Keiko and Wakana become more prominent.  I really do like Keiko in this song and I really like the way she sings "kura kura, yume no naka".  She throws in quite a bit of variation in the solo portions she got in this song.   And I like the second time Hikaru holds her own at approx 2mins, finding it to be more interesting than her interpretation in the opening.  As usual, a lot of the highlights in this song happen when they combine, especially when Keiko and Hikaru combine.  Wakana doesn't have have anything that would be too taxing for her in this song, but that is not to say it wasn't good, I liked her loads in this song.  Wakana doing what she does best, Keiko breaking it up constantly and Hikaru's sweet voice and their harmony, gives me enough to move this song from "hmmmm... I don't know" to "like".

6. destination unknown - This is definitely an early favourite for me mostly because the Hikaru-Keiko combo is really, really good in this song.  I also really, really like the way Keiko comes in with "kokoro no kata sumini..."  She comes in like a force of nature then smoothly dips that aggressiveness without reducing the feeling of power by just a notch when she hits "hitori mo korasu..." and she's gone from a rushing force to a powerful swirl of wind as she prepares for Hikaru's entry.  I LOVE IT.  This song has so much energy... it would be great to hear it at a live in the same set as "magnolia", "ongaku", "magia" etc.

7. neverending - Yeah, Hikaru really still does sound a little too nasal for my liking in the very opening phrase / line and seems to have a slight problem with the evenness of the melody, hence, she doesn't sound as controlled or as smooth as Keiko does when she sings the second stanza.  When the melody opens up more, she really got going though... nice.  I really prefer the way Keiko sings that same melody.  She varies it from her usual way of singing to give it a more... hmmmm.... I don't know how to describe it... but she sounds almost "classical" to me.  Not Western / opera classical but like an Japanese/Chinese classical / oldie.  I don't know, I can't describe it properly but I really like how she sang this, lots of nuance, inflection and control.  BUT that is not to say that Hikaru's was bad... I actually also like it lots, just not as much as Keiko's.  I like Hikaru's because her voice/way of singing always, at least to me, has a slight rawness compared to both Keiko and Wakana and that is actually one of her strengths.  I really like Hikaru's performance when she does what she does in places like "...dare ka omo kage".  It's the way she ends that line that gives her singing that little emotionally raw nuance which I like.  And for me, her less controlled more emotionally raw way of singing is part of what makes Kalafina sound so good because all their differences added together give Kalafina so much variation in sound and style that whether it's in the parts where they lead or the parts when they harmonize, Kalafina just sounds so different, so good and so interesting.  A definite early favourite.

8. ことのは -This song I liked two days ago and still like it two days later.  It's classic Kalafina stuff and it's the stuff they've been doing so well for 4 years.  Wakana sounds so lovely in this song... really at her best and the harmony is just beautiful.  Nice.

9. magnolia - How could I possibly not like this song??!?!?  :)  This is my kind of song.  Pretty much classic Kalafina stuff too.  Not early Kalafina perhaps but I think by the album "Red Moon" we were getting similar songs or songs with parts that had a rockier edge with a good measure of electronica and trance all mixed in with the trio's mesmerizing vocals.  That said, while "magnolia" does owe something to some of Kalafina's rock numbers, it is ultimately different enough for me to like it and not go "this sounds exactly like___". Firm early favourite for me.

10. 輝く空の静寂には - This was previously released as a single.  It's not my favourite Kalafina song to be honest.  I enjoy this song though, just not one of the ones I fell in love with.

11. 胸の行方 - This song has also entered the list of my favourites from this album.  Lately, it's rare to hear Keiko open any song and get such an extensive opening that it's almost a breathe of fresh air on it's own.  That said, I love the wide open and optimistic feel of the opening.  Keiko seems to relish this opportunity and I can almost picture her in a wide open prairie, singing with the wind in her face and her arms wide open and simply celebrating the feeling of being alive.  The chorus is really unusual, it's in English and sounds like something one would hear in a Broadway musical.  It's really odd but has a certain strange charm about it and the three girls sound really good together in the chorus.  Hikaru sounds really good in this song too... really nice and open.  There aren't too many signature moments from Wakana, somehow I thought there was more of her the first time I heard this song.  Still... Wakana sounds good as usual and the harmony is good.

Oh and just a little observation... I think they really worked very hard at their English pronunciation and enunciation because their English actually sounds good.  Just take the words "river" and "life".  Generally speaking, these are usually tricky for the Japanese.  And the "r" sounds end up sounding like "l's and the "l" sounds end up sounding like "r"s.  And we've heard them sing in English before and only Kaori (FictionJunction) and Hikaru sound relatively more comfortable with the sounds.  So I say... good job girls for getting the pronunciation right!!! :)

12. snow falling - This was also previously released as a single.  It's not one of my favourite Kalafina songs because it's a little too slow for me.  But there are parts I really like... especially the bits that start at 2.15min and lasts for about 1 min.  That's when the trio's voices do some overlapping.  Nice, just what I like.

13. symphonia -  Listening to it again and again these last few days has not diminished my liking of this song.  Classic epic goodness from Kalafina.  They all sound so good separately and together in this song.  And the build up to the climax, as well as the climax itself, is really nicely done.  I kept forgetting to rip this song from the Historia II album which I left in the office... so I've been happily listening to this extended version a lot these two days.

Conclusion:
I definitely like this album.  Overall, the tone and mood of this album is less heavy than their previous work.  There are more breezy songs and songs which conjure up images of big fields with tall grass and wild flowers... almost pastoral in nature... hence, the title? When the girls said that they were going for a different feel / sound in this album, I don't think I expected this.  I like it though, I like it that I can throw in all of Kalafina's songs into my portable player and play it on loop and shuffle and never feel like I'm listening to the same kind of music.

And even after listening to the entire album on loop for the most part of two straight days, I still like all the songs to varying degrees.   I mostly end up liking the tracks a little more than the first run through.  Yup... to me... this is a good album.  Enough classic Kalafina to keep them sounding like Kalafina and enough difference to not be the same-o same-o again.  Even the classic Kalafina songs are classic only in spirit and style, with certain signature moments thrown in but are different enough to keep the songs likeable.

Now I just can't wait for my CD to come.  It was shipped today and will most likely reach me on Thursday.  I really want to rip my flacs and place them on my  portable so I can hear the music without the compression and clipping that is inevitable with mp3 compression even at 320k.

Also... please forgive any grammatical errors, once again, I'm not going to proof read... no time. ALSO, you probably will need to forgive any romanji errors as I'm just transcribing by sound when I write those phrases down, I don't know what they mean and they may be wrong.

Time to sleep ... but before I go to sleep, here is part 3 of the Kalafina Kawaii Girl Japan interview.  And they are amusing as usual. :)

Oyasumi. :)