paradise lost

I’ve been meaning to review Onitsuka’s albums probably since I started the blog, never got round to it. She is one of my favourite artists after all. So here is Onitsuka Chihiro’s first album Insomnia released on 2001.03.07.

The album opens with 月光(Moonlight), her second single which gained fame from it’s tie-in to the TRICK dorama. It’s a beautiful, laid back song with a darker edge. In contrast to the album version that follows later, this one is piano with violin backing. Like a lot of Onitsuka Chihiro’s songs the piano has a dominant part, often just simple repeated chords. Some strings come in later too; however, the song is driven mainly by Onitsuka’s powerful and emotional vocals. 月光also happens to have some very beautiful lyrics. It’s quite a simple song, but it carries a lot of emotion that makes it quite beautiful and moving.

The second track is イノセンス(Innocence). This one is a lot different from anything else on the album (and rather unique for Onitsuka Chihiro overall). The song opens with piano and a heavy beat, overlaid with synth sounds, giving it a dark and ominous atmosphere. The repetitive piano and beat continues through the song as Onitsuka comes in. Her voice remains beautiful throughout, naturally. The highlight of the song is the way it builds up to the loud rock chorus. The transition from quiet and calm piano and vocal to loud and angry rock makes it a powerful and emotional song. The song continues to vary throughout ending with the full rock inspired instrumentation. There is also good use of backing vocals throughout. The lyrics are emotive and angry, and this is certainly the mood of the song. There is something angry and desperate about this song, and I like it. It’s a very dark but beautiful track.

Next is the album version of BACK DOOR, which compared to innocence is a lot more toned down. It has a beautiful, sad sounding piano part. When Onitsuka Chihiro comes in she sounds sad, and her voice is filled with longing. For sure it’s a very sad song, with powerful lyrics. The backing vocals are a bit annoying, and when the chorus comes it sounds quite sudden although I do like how the chorus starts so strongly then softens down. It’s another beautiful song. The piano part is really pretty and once more Onitsuka gives a wonderful vocal performance. It’s really calming to listen to, with a soft yet emotional sound.

Carrying on the trend of melancholic piano based songs with beautiful vocal performance from Onitsuka Chihiro comes edge. The track introduces that gospel influence that sometimes becomes apparent in Onitsuka’s songs. Although it starts with quite prominent piano part, gentle rock instrumentation comes in at some point. The instrumentation is really nice and Onitsuka sounds lovely, whilst again there is good use of backing vocals. I love how it sounds so hopeful, even as it also sounds quite soft and sad. It’s another stunning and emotional song. Onitsuka Chihiro sounds so beautiful.

Next up is We can go, a very upbeat and hopeful song which has a stronger gospel feel both due to the mood the instrumentation creates, the rhythms and the English lyrics in the chorus. Like edge it has that soft, acoustic feeling due to the gentle rock instrumentation combined with piano and other things. It’s such a relaxing song with very good instrumentation, and of course Onitsuka Chihiro sounds great. I find listening to it too much it becomes irritating though- perhaps because of that gospel feeling. I am not a fan of the ending especially with the backing vocals.

The album tones down again for call, a powerful and emotional song that is beautifully sung. It has that dark atmosphere the earlier tracks did. Starting just with piano the song builds up introducing more sounds, but the piano and vocals are the most prominent part. The song has a quiet beauty about it, and at times is almost haunting with the emotion it presents. Onitsuka Chihiro sounds really good both in the deep, low pitch verses, then raising her voice effortlessly for the rest of the song.

Then it’s another dark track for the album version of Shine. The song relies on the piano and vocals. The piano’s rhythm lends a dark sorrowful atmosphere, as do Onitsuka’s desperate and at times angry vocals. Despite the simple instrumentation, it’s a very dark and emotional song which is filled with obvious sorrow that makes it extremely moving and powerful in that quiet, and soft way that so many of Onitsuka’s track manage to do.

Track 8 is cage- sounding light and airy it still has that underlying edge to it. The song has an upbeat and fast instrumental part, contrasting to the tone of Chihiro onitsuka’s voice- sounding bitter, especially in the chorus. I love how it is so light and fast yet at the same time, just as dark as the tracks before it. I think maybe although it such a dark song in a way, Onitsuka wants the prevalent feeling to be of hope and moving forward past those feelings. Really it’s just another beautiful and emotional song.

After cage is 螺旋(spiral). Onitsuka sounds very sad, and again the instrumentation is soft but doesn’t sound really that dark or sorrowful. The synth lends it that dark and ominous feeling that was present in Innocence, but much like cage the prevalent feeling is of hope. The chorus especially hints at this desperate hope that it will be OK someday. Onitsuka Chihiro puts so much emotion into those 4 lines, it’s absolutely stunning. I really love this song.

Then it’s 眩暈(dizzyness), carrying on the trend of piano bases tunes blending sorrow and hope with beautiful instrumentation and amazing vocals. The chorus especially is very strong, I like the way she accents certain notes. It’s a beautiful song. It’s very slow though and can drag on.

Lastly it’s the album version of 月光, which unlike track one is solely piano and voice. The same applies for what I said about the first version, because this one really isn’t that much different.

Rating: 10/10 (Excellent)
Favourite Track: 月光, イノセンス, 螺旋

This is a fantastic album from Onitsuka Chihiro. It’s a relaxing album to listen to, despite the dark feelings of the songs. Mainly, I love the songs quiet beauty. The songs for the most part are pretty acoustic but not dull and manage to convey so many emotions. They have the same kind of style but each carries new feelings, and a new sound to set it apart. Onitsuka Chihiro’s voice is also powerful, conveying and adding even more emotion the song and it’s admirable how her voice sounds amazing both deep, yet reaches higher notes effortlessly. I think it’s amazing, simple as that. This is one of my favourite albums from Onitsuka Chihiro; it shows off her talent perfectly. The weaker tracks are great, and the stronger tracks are absolutely amazing. Definitely something you should listen to if you haven’t already.