Kalafina ~ Winter Acoustic "Kalafina with Strings" - unboxing / comments

#Kalafina 's Winter Acoustics "Kalafina with Strings" arrived in the mail today!!!!! :)  And it's LOVELY!!!!!  I know what I'll be looping on my player on my way to work tomorrow.

I can't even concentrate on writing this post because I keep stopping to really listen to the album as it plays.  Yup......  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE IT LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!

Hahahaha... this album really showcases their harmony and Kajiura Yuki's abilities at Chorus Arrangement.  A lot of it is VERY pretty and Kajiura Yuki knows just how to arrange it so that each song brings out the best of each of the vocalists in Kalafina.  In my opinion, if you love Kalafina's harmony, it's hard not to at the very least like this album.

First though, all the photos of the unboxing of this album.

             

Oh... btw, the first photo on top is the photo of the postcard tokuten that comes with this release.  You can tell that this isn't a major release for Kalafina because only one version of the CD and one version of the postcard for all shops.

As usual, I shot photos of the album with the shrink wrap on and off.  I wasn't expecting photos of the trio because this didn't seem like a major release but they did include photos of them individually and also as a group on stage.  Because there weren't many photos of them, I decided to shoot them all. The quality won't be as good as scans but I'm sure sooner or later someone will scan their booklet and put it online somewhere and you can go check them out then.

I only shot one photo of the lyrics page because it's really that simple.  I shot the usual FJC insert page but also shot the backside.  They Christmas acoustic tour seems to be selling well with most locations sold out.  I would love to have gone but the year has been a little tumultuous and I have had to cut back on travelling to Japan for a bit for now.  Fingers crossed, next year, maybe next year I could make it to a Kalafina and/or a Kajiura Yuki live. :)

I included more than one photo of the credits page because I think that's of interest of some of us.  It's not the clearest of shots but I think most people can probably make it out... I think. :P

Although this doesn't seem to be a major release from Kalafina... STILL.... for me, this is a really worthy release and one I think all fans of Kalafina should buy.  Seriously, I think it would be a rare Kalafina fan who doesn't at the very least like their harmony, if not love it to varying degrees and this album really showcases it.  Also, the arrangements, both my Kajiura Yuki and the other collaborators are all quite engaging.

Also, I really need to say this.  WOW!! They really worked very hard on their English pronunciation and enunciation.  It's really very impressive now especially for old time fans who know how different it was way back then.  I'm the most impress with how far Keiko has come.  Much as I love her, I cannot but admit that her English pronunciation was the least good of the three and Hikaru's was the best then.  Now, I didn't have an issue with their pronunciation then, it's just that I feel a need to mention it here because I know it must have too a lot of work for them to get to this point and I feel a need to congratulate them on doing a splendid job!

Kajiura Yuki also wrote a new song for this album.  It's called "Yasashii Uta" and it's really enchanting. I really like it.  I must say, it feels like she's treading new ground with this song because I can't really recall any song that she has written that might be similar to this song.  At least, nothing comes easily to mind.  It's a little like how some of the songs in the "far on the water" felt, e.g. Identify, really sounded so different from her usual stuff.  "Yasashii Uta" has a really nice melody and the girls sing it in a delightful and almost playful fashion. It conjures up images of girls skipping from stepping stone to stepping stone in a small stream.  Keiko opens it singing in her seldom heard "pretty" voice and she maintains this throughout most of the song.  It works very well in this song and all their voices combine and separate and overlay exquisitely.  I have already looped this song three times. :)  Yes, I like it that much and I'll probably loop it many more times in the future.  For now... I need to go to bed.  It's an early day tomorrow and I'm so glad this album arrived in time for me to enjoy my hour long ride in the bus to the office tomorrow. :)

Good night. :)

OH.... one last thing before I go.  Please do support good music and buy the album if you can afford it.

Below is the link to the album on CDJapan.  Please feel free to use this link or any other link or webshop you prefer.  cheers :)

Winter Acoustic "Kalafina with Strings"