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Utada Hikaru - Ultra BlueBy Haidentity
Ultra BlueArtist: Utada HikaruType: Album Release Date: 06/14/2006 Price: 2913 yen My RatingSound Quality - 10/10 Length - 9/10 Transitions - 10/10 Songs - 10/10 Overall Score - 10/10! OverviewNew York native Utada Hikaru - well. There isn’t much I can say that hasn’t already been said. Hikaru ("Hikki") is, along with Ayumi Hamasaki, my favourite J-pop idol. Her style is heavily influenced by R&B, especially apparent in her first Japanese release, First Love, but, contrary to popular belief, her style since has more or less been of an alternative pop flavour. She has always experimented with different genres of pop, and each of her albums has that unique texture of what she was into at the time. With this new release she continues that experimentation and reaches new heights of pop precision, crafting songs that I can foresee being loved long into the future. It’s an exceptional album and is hands down my favourite album of hers, and quite possibly one of my favourite Japanese pop albums of the contemporary/ experimental genre (perhaps replacing Yo Hitoto’s Tsukitenshin). The mood is overall quieting (as suggested by the title - ‘Blue’ conjuring feelings of loneliness or solitude, and ‘Ultra’ modifying the word for a depth of a mood) and harkens back to my previous favourite Hikaru album, Deep River but really has a heavy ‘future-pop’ influence the hipsters can appreciate and a transcending, meditative mood that will no doubt allow the listener to envision a far away place in the dusty dimensions of the mind. There are seven full-length new (non-single - A or B sides) tracks on the album. Track Listing1. This is Love What a way to open an album! This song is heavily synthetic and electronic and could easily be a dance track in a club (I can just envision the dozens of remixes to come). It’s not extremely up-tempo, but it has that atmosphere that Hikki is famous for; it seems as if you’re ‘Traveling’ (pun intended) somewhere and your attention is being pulled in all directions by the various musical harmonies and techno-shrapnel flying about. First impression, it sounds a bit like Passion but is immensely more catchy with a sing-along chorus released by the oddly sexy sigh of This is love... this is love.... I fell in love with this track on first listen and I believe you will do the same. Rating Out of Five Stars : Five Stars 2. Keep Tryin’ The opening is reminiscent of This is Love, that same breathy synth-laden hook - but this song is a horse of a total different colour. I don’t care about anything... It is immediately cheerful with just a hint of darker, more sarcastic tones underneath. Hikaru stretches her voice all of the plane of music in the pop-chorus, then leads us down the proverbial rabbit hole with a shockingly New-Age bridge in which you can’t seem to pin her voice to any one spot. She sounds melancholic and optimistic all at once, her voice weightless over the heavy electronic sounds. The interlude features what sounds to be a xylophone being played one note at a time before a loud, euphoric release of a chorus that leads into the climax; a stop-and-go chorus-assembly harmony in which you can literally hear in her voice what sounds hopeful yet so incredibly sad at the same time - leaving you on the note of Keep trying, trying... unsure of if you should indeed, or just give up. Rating Out of Five Stars : Five Stars 3. Blue This track opens with a piano and flows easily into another mystical electronic line that manages to sound traditional despite the weighty sounds beneath. Hikaru’s voice is constant and cloud-weight until we reach the chorus in which she stops to rush ahead of her voice in un-characteristic shout, then she settles into an auxiliary step-up, step-down melody in which she alternately yells and coos in beautiful chaos. The track isn’t as immediately catchy as the first two songs, but it’s still so moody (as the title suggests) and so unique you can’t help but melting into it. Rating Out of Five Stars : Four Stars 4. Nichiyou no asa The meditative synth lines are absent at the opening of this track, but a delicious First Love style R&B feel is in it’s place. The experimentation is gone but Hikki is back where she became a legend - straight forward, hushed, layered vocals that slink around sexily over a simple, repetitive urban beat. I have to admit, I slipped into the song so easily, rushed with nostalgia; the chorus is just gorgeous with whispered English words behind the spare frame. If you want to know what Japanese R&B sounds like, look no further than the easy rhythm found in this track - laid back and still slightly depressed while still being upbeat in a smooth way. Rating Out of Five Stars : Four and One Half Stars 5. Making Love A military-style drum line opens this song and Hikaru’s vocals are pure pop over sunny electronic effects. This song really reminds me, style wise, of slightly more obscure Japanese contemporary-pop singer Yaida Hitomi (Yaiko). The interlude of the song is an adorable little faux-rap and the song finishes with the bright melodic pop that should be, to all logic, less than stellar in the style department but has that inescapable charm mastered by Yaiko and now being experimented with by Hikki. Rating Out of Five Stars : Three and One Half Stars 6. Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro This song is a ballad and is a little disappointing compared to all the exceptional tracks so far. Hikaru’s voice waivers and threatens to crack with emotion over a spare arrangement of piano, guitar and strings. I have to say this must be the ‘required’ ballad that pops up on every Japanese pop album. The only thing that can really be said about it - it’s a pretty composition, and Hikaru’s voice carries it and adds a great emotional depth, but it doesn’t stand up very well, and sounds more than a little generic. Rating Out of Five Stars : Three Stars 7. Colors Opening with a pan-flue style jig that melds into an alternating string-laden and loud ‘Oriental’ clash composition. The chorus is ultimately singable and very slightly strange with the traditional and future-pop elements fighting for supremacy over a mid-tempo flow. The best thing about this song is how easy it is - how straightforward it seems, but the production makes you sit up and listen. There is also an acoustic version of this song, which I love. Rating Out of Five Stars : Four Half Stars 8. One Night Magic feat. Yamada Masashi What is this? Featuring? Yes, indeed. This is a duet of sorts, done in the experimental pop style of most of the album. The chorus is sung by Yamada - an echoing, far-away sounding drone that bursts into the Oh baby give it up latter part of the chorus. The style, despite it’s distinct atmosphere created by clinkling and piano-sounding effects is a little Caribbean - perhaps reminiscent of the laid-back steel-drum ejamsf heard at backyard parties everywhere. And still throughout there is that inescapable over-dubbed harmony creatung a lush sound that hinders this track from truly being called a "jam". Still undeniably fun, though. Rating Out of Five Stars : Three and One Half Stars 9. Kairo A menacing string arrangement opens this song and Hikaru comes sighing onto the stage - oh no, not another ballad! Wait... what is this? A dribble of drums and an effect that sounds remarkably like gusting wind gives way to a gorgeous sigh over the moody strings - the arrangement is fleshed-out with various drum-machine beats that stop abruptly, giving way to an almost-silence characterized by a tiny piano tinkling and wind and the violin. Then Hikaru starts up again in that incredibly eerie voice that seems to invite spirits in - slight rusting can be heard in the background and the imagery of night is inescapable. Now, I am completely obsessed with this song and the way it paints a picture (something I attribute to my favourite band, The Brilliant Green). "Sea Route" - yes, that fits; can’t you hear the wind off the ocean, the way it dwindles away then envelopes you, comforting and eerie and beautiful and strange all at once? This is not a beach song. This song is not about the beach. This song is about the shore, the natural sea, the place devoid of sun that has depths as deep and wide as the human mind. Stunning. Rating Out of Five Stars : Five Stars 10. Wings This track was the B-side to the incredible Keep Tryin’ single and is A-side quality itself. It’s a pretty, comforting arrangement that has a flavour of R&B and even world-music with percussive drums and various flutes. This is contemporary pop embodied; immensely pretty and even catchy but somehow it manages to leave more of an impact than the bubble-gum pop Japan is often known for. Hikaru’s voice is crystal clear and doesn’t waiver; she hits the highest notes and dips her voice to the lowest ones in the same breath, showing off her amazing vocal talent and the sweet quality of her voice. This song is perfect for summer - just slightly jazzy on the piano and innately optimistic and breezy. Rating Out of Five Stars : Four Stars 11. Be My Last Okay, promise yourself you’re not going to cry. This song is so touching, so incredibly well-produced, so familiar and yet so unique. An acoustic guitar strums sparely over Hiakru’s soft singing and intermittent harmonies that are deeply sad. Then the song picks up at the chorus, Be my last ... and you just know you’ve got to hold it together. A ballad? Perhaps. The piano, the acoustic feel, the harmonic vocals - all signs point to this being a dull song. Yet, something else is there, more than the words, the very quality of her voice, the quality of the composition is so melancholy and so honest and simple. My favourite part of the song is the last minute and twenty seconds - now I am especially susceptible to getting goose bumps and chills from music, but I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t get at least a little tremor listening to the urgency in Hikaru’s voice as she seems to beg into silence. Rating Out of Five Stars: Five Stars 12. Eclipse This is the interlude - at the end of the album? Boy that last track must really be something special with this set-up ~ a dark, clashing electronic mesh played on a loop for a minute and thirty seconds under garbled, distorted singing. It feels distinctly like waiting for something very big to happen - like perhaps before a concert or especially good movie. This Passion better be a amazing song. 13. Passion And it is. I am guilty of having a dozen different remixes of this song - it’s just incredible. Remember how you felt when you first heard Hikari? Well, you’re going to feel that way again (no, not just because it is the song for Kingdom Hearts 2). This song really sums up the entire album, seeming to pull elements from every other track - electric guitars, strings, atmospheric pop, military drums, loud harmonies and quiet fuzz. Hikaru’s own voice is the most amazing instrument, though - the producer of this song deserves a giant kudos for ingeniously mixing all these elements - especially the garbling and looping Hikaru’s own voice back as an echo. Once again your ears try and follow the sound but strain in all directions trying to find the source because there are so many things happening at once. This song is so truly epic without being annoying or over the top and spare and experimental enough without being artsy. The last minute of the song is the climax of not just the song, not just the album, but of the years leading up to this album - all the hard work fears... lies.... It’s satisfying and definite and the perfect closing track. Now, play the album again from track one. Rating Out of Five Stars: Five Stars Where Can You Buy the CD?YesAsia CD Japan JMIgnited.com is not affiliated with the artists presented on this website or their representatives. 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