beta music mode

March was a month where I got caught up in relentless torrents of work and afforded myself no time to listen to any music besides UTADA and JUJU’s latest records. But I am ready to kick myself now for not giving KOKIA’s simultaneous releases a spin till one full month after their release - and here I am listening to both albums on repeat.

AKIKO∞KOKIA was released on KOKIA’s own independent label and KOKIA∞AKIKO on her major label Victor, I’m not sure what was the reasoning behind the decision but I guess it probably matters little - I honestly haven’t been this excited about (a) record(s) in a long while. I didn’t even like KOKIA’s last proper Japanese album The VOICE that much. in fact the last song of hers I remember loving to bits was Watashi no Taiyou, and that was in 2003…

The sheer beauty of the songs on Balance are matched only by her unique-as-ever ethereal vocal style. She may not possess the belting power of someone like say, Alan, but the way she wraps that honey-coated voice around those sweet words, the emotion she’s capable of conveying - to put it in a clichéd way, it’s aural orgasm.

Standouts
Honestly there aren’t any bad apples in the cart, each track has its own charm points but if I could only stick 5 of the 23 songs across the discs on my iPod, these would be it:

1. 花宴 (Hana no En)
Takes its title from a chapter of Genji, I believe (you can hear her clearly sing ‘Hana no En’ in the first couple of bars). The song certainly lives up to the beauty of its name.

2. サルスベリの揺れる頃 (Sarusberi no Yureru Koro)
Simple and moving acoustic ballad.

3. ゲマトリア (Gematria)
Essentially, most of the song consists of incomprehensible chanting but damn, it’s mesmerising.

4. infinity
She liked the song so much she included two versions across the two CDs. The stripped-down version on the indies CD is much better.

5. うす桃色の季節 (Usumomoiro no Kisetsu)
The light pop melodies provide one of the happier moments on the CDs.

KOKIA’s certainly been prolific these few months, she’s got a single coming up 22 April - Karma is being used as the opening theme for Phantom the Animation and it’s another real pretty song, a bit more upbeat than the songs you’ll find on Balance but still carrying that trademark KOKIA sound.

Granted, my own musical tastes have gravitated towards folk and quiter, acoustic singer-songwriter stuff in recent years so not everyone would find her material to their liking, but KOKIA is a real gem in the Jpop world, an artist who everyone should seek out and try at least once. Balance is a good place to start.