Tracklist:
- red moon
- 光の旋律 (hikari no senritsu, Melody of Light)
- テトテトメトメ (te to te to me to me)
- fantasia
- 春は黄金の夢の中 (haru ha ougon no yume no naka, The Spring is in a Golden Dream)
- Kyrie
- 闇の唄 (yami no uta, Song of Darkness)
- 星の謡 (hoshi no utai, Chant of the Stars)
- storia
- intermezzo
- progressive
- Lacrimosa
- I have a dream
So again, after quite a while, a record review. This time, it is by a Japanese group, so you might have to wait for a release in your country or, alternatively, use one of "the usual channels"…
That being said, this is not your usual collection of otaku bubble-gum pop anime theme songs. Well actually… I found this album via an anime theme song, namingly of the rather moe Sora no woto. While I found the show mediocre, mostly derivative and existing rather for the purpose of fanservice — though I rather liked the European style and the slow pace — the opening theme grew on me, so I looked for the artist and lo! behold, found this longer version of "Hikari no Senritsu".
Normally, I'm neither into J-Pop, nor that Renaissance-fair folksy style. But I found quite a bit more on this album, owing not the least to the fact that Kalafina's mastermind Kajiura Yuki is actually a studied composer. There are chorals inspired by sacral music, classical instrumentation, electronic beats, middle-eastern influences, gothic drama — an eclectic mix, but well-balanced by obvious arranging and composing skills.
Favourite tracks: "red moon", "hikari no senritsu", "storia", "Lacrimosa"
(Note: I heard — as I'm quite interested in contemporary Japanese culture, but not particularly in anime — that quite a few of these songs have already been used as theme songs, as Kajiura mostly composes for these. Well, I guess anime are for the Japanese music industry what MTV was in Europe and America 10-20 years ago… So you might already know some of these tracks if you are an anime fan. If you liked them, this album is a clear recommendation.)