Trollheart

Yes, I'll come clean. There's only one reason I was attracted to this album, and you're looking at it if you view the cover. Man she's hot! But after my stupid male testosterone had had a chance to calm down and I started listening to the music, I found I was glad I had bought this, no matter the initial reason. I know absolutely sod-all about Japanese artistes: ask me to name one and I could maybe do you Vow Wow (old metal band) but that would be about it. David Sylvian's lot? Nah, they were just called Japan, weren't they? See how little I know? It's never been a country whose music --- metal or otherwise --- I've actively explored, and in fairness it's not one that tends to spill out into the mainstream of even whatever genre you're interested in. Prog rock? Gazpacho are from Norway, and yet I know little Norwegian music. Metal? Tyr are from the Faroe Islands and I know absolutely nothing else about them (though for a good idea check out Geekoid's journal). But there are many countries whose music I don't find myself exposed to, and unless I go seeking it out it usually doesn't come my way.

So stumbling across this little gem is fortune indeed, because it's probably the album that I would find the hardest to tie down in terms of style or even genre, with everything from metal to pop to classical to jazz to punk seeming to populate its surface, and the singer in question equally at home, it would appear, in any of these genres, and many more besides.

Re;Story --- Eri Kitamura --- 2012 (King)

Although she is apparently very well known both as an actress in anime series in her native country and as a contributor to soundtracks, this seems to be Eri Kitamura's first actual album, so essentially a debut from a lady who has been making music and acting since 2003. Only twenty-five years old, she already has a very impressive portfolio of work behind her, and looks to be a big star in Japan. I of course have never heard of her --- I'm no fan of anime and I know little, as I already pointed out, of the music scene in Japan: well, all right, I know nothing about it. I'm not even sure if I'm causing offence by referring to her as Eri, as some sites have her named as Kitamura Eri, and I know there are cultures where what we would see as the surname is more important, and used as we would a Christian or first name, but as I'm not sure I'm going to trust my own experience and go with calling her Eri.

Anyway, enough about her name. On with the album, yes? It opens on beautiful piano and strings, then hard guitar and faster synth plus violins crash in and the song becomes basically a heavy metal one, with screeching guitar and thundering drums, rocking along at power-metal speed, Eri's vocal a little further down in the mix than I would prefer, but you can still make her out. Of course, she's singing in Japanese (I assume) so I can't tell you what the song is about, but as I pointed out before, this often doesn't matter, and here the music is good enough to carry the song on its own, regardless of actual lyrics. It is in fact the title track that opens the album, but what it means, even in English, I don't know. She has a really good backing band though, especially whoever is on the guitar --- sorry, but as you might expect, details on the album are hard to come by.

Second track, “Veronica” is, if it's possible, faster and harder, almost punk/thrash metal, and in fact on this Eri sings in English, though again it's a little hard to hear her above the cacophony the band create; perhaps the production should be looked at? A good headbanging track though, and not really the sort of thing you would expect from the innocent-looking young girl who smiles out at you from the album cover! Some more great guitar solos, and you can almost hear Eri start to sort out her own sound, then “Shirushi” has a very pop sound about it, with digital piano and some nice synths, definitely easing off on the pedal, still fast but not breakneck speed like the first two tracks. This one, I think, is sung in Japanese, but you can get a much better feel for Eri's voice: it's not swallowed in banks of keyboards and walls of guitars here. There's even a flute in there somewhere! The more poppy nature of the song though doesn't stop our friend on the guitar from racking off a solo!

Nice jangly, “Edge”-style guitar opening to “Ashiato”, which I'm assuming will also be sung in Japanese. Yeah, sounds like it. Another more commercial sounding track, not anywhere as heavy or fast as the first two, but kind of verging towards what might be described as Japanese AOR, with a lot of keyboards in the mix and again Eri's vocal much more discernible. “Alive” then opens as a sort of 80s-style pop ballad but kicks into higher gear with some pretty punishing guitar work, and despite the English title it appears to be sung in Japanese. I say “appears” because most of the time Eri Kitamura sings so fast it's a little hard to follow what she's singing, even if it's in your own language!

I'd imagine “Alive” will do well on Japanese radio, as it's very catchy, with a big keyboard and strings sound and that snarling guitar adding just the right amount of dirty grind to lift the song above ordinary pop songs. At any rate, the next one up --- and in fact, all the remaining tracks --- has an English title, but “Baby butterfly” moves along on a brassy line with a kind of thirties swing/jazz melody, which reminds me of Matt Bianco or maybe Madonna's “Hanky panky”: very danceable for sure and again I'd say would make waves on the radio, while “Love and hate” just, well, defies categorisation really. Big, bold, fast and heavy with some crazy sounds, it sort of heads back to the frenetic style of the first two tracks, grabbing some of Evanescence on the way, bludgeoning its way past but in a good way.

Things stay fast and powerful for “Brand new blood”, and the resemblance to bands like Evanescence is growing, which is not to say that Kitamura's music mirrors or copies theirs (which is not that original anyway) but I do hear parallels between the two. To be fair to her, even with the now pretty loud backing of the band I can now hear Eri singing, so there's a big improvement, vocal or production-wise, from the first two tracks where I could barely make her out at all. Another great guitar solo, then a lovely little soft piano piece during which you can really hear how good her voice is, then they're off and running again to the frantic end, taking us to “Be starters!” on which I have to say she sounds about eight years old, and it's a very pop-oriented song (though our guy on guitar seems to have other ideas!) and probably the lightest thing on the album so far. Don't really like this, to be honest. Apparently they love it in Japan though...

Much better is “My way”, a good hard-rockin' version of the Sinatra classic --- only joking. It's an original song, a good fast rocker with a ton of energy and some very AOR keyboards, the obligatory guitar solo and a great vocal. In total contrast is another pop song, the aptly and vacuously-titled “Happy girl”, which again has her sounding like a demented Japanese smurf or a kid of eight; it's almost like a pastiche, a parody, but again apparently it's one of her bigger hit singles back home. Who can tell what people like? Does nothing for me, empty by-the-numbers pop. Wonder what the mad guitarist thought of this one? I'll be honest: had I heard only this track from Eri Kitamura I would have written her off as another empty-headed pop diva, albeit a Japanese one.

That would have been a mistake though, of course. We've already seen how versatile her musical talent is, the breadth of the genres she crosses, and here in “My singing” she takes on an almost acoustic folk rock song, alt-rock, indie, call it what you will: it's jangly, it's uptempo, it's fun and very commercial but without the annoying high-pitched, sped-up voice of “Happy girl” or “Be starters!” then closer “Be a diamond” is a great little uptempo rocker, with some happy brass and some great guitar, energy to spare and a great hook.

Like I said at the start, it's hard, almost impossible to categorise this album, or Eri Kitamura's style. I'm not even sure if I'd listen to this album again, but in a way that's not what's important. Up to now, I had heard just about no music from Japan, so it's refreshing to hear that they have some artistes who can compete with the best the west has to offer. I'm not certain Eri will ever make the crossover to this side, mainly due to singing in her own language, but others have taken that hurdle, so who is to say?

For now, I would just categorise this as a very strong debut album, and urge you to perhaps give it a listen. Who knows? She may be one of the stars of the future, and you can say you heard her first album before most people here in the west!

TRACKLISTING
1. Re;story
2. Veronica
3. Shirushi
4. Ashiato
5. Alive
6. Baby butterfly
7. Love and hate
8. Brand new blood
9. Be starters!
10. My way
11. Happy girl
12. My singing
13. Be a diamond

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