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KOKIA – The Voice
Tracklist:
01. Odoyaka na Shizukesa
02. Follow the Nightingale
03. Ave Maria
04. Todokimasu You ni
05. song of pocchong ~Shizuku no Uta~
06. Gomen ne.
07. Lacrima
08. Nani mo Kamo ga Hoshi ni Natte
09. il mare dei suoni
10. everlasting
11. Chiisana Uta
12. Watashi ni Dekiru Koto

The Voice is KOKIA’s 6th original album, released on 20th February, 2008 and soon to be released in Europe on 5th of March with a slightly different tracklist under Wasabi Records. This is a review of the Japanese version which includes the charity track Watashi ni Dekiru Koto, while the European version has say goodbye good day in its place.

The album starts off with the absolutely amazing Odayaka na Shizukesa. KOKIA begins with some amazing vocals as usual, while some unorthodox musical instruments play in the background. Most of the first half of the song is dominated by the piano, while in the second half the flute and violin kick in as well. KOKIA sounds beautiful during the chorus, and I simply adore the way she says ‘hush…’ every now and then, it sounds so incredibly cute XD. Hands down, the best track on the entire album.

I never really understood why Follow the Nightingale didn’t strike that personal chord with me as it has done with millions of people out there. When I heard it on the single, I thought it was rather noisy and cramped with so many different things that it was hard to keep track of them all. I honestly liked the quieter parts of this track a lot more than the singing-in-reverse parts (I don’t know how else to define it), though I do like the opera singing during the bridge.

Quickly followed by is the cover of aria Ave Maria, originally composed by Vladamir Vavilov sometime in 1970. I’ve never listened to the original, so again, I have no idea how to judge it, but suffice it to say for a wordless track, it sounds quite elegant.

I love how honest and down-to-earth the Todokimasu You ni sounds, even when it doesn’t even does anything special. In fact, this just might be the reason it sounds so calm and relaxed that it practically doesn’t do anything that KOKIA hasn’t done before. Except, perhaps, the acoustic guitar which usually doesn’t show up in KOKIA’s music. Her vocals really shine in this track, especially in the chorus where she sings slightly louder. Kudos, to her for singing so magnificently!

I know Lacrima come up in this order, but bear with me right now. Lacrima is another calm and sad acoustic track, much like track 4 in this album. I like this track, although not as much as track 4 itself. It’s a little on the generic side, but KOKIA’s vocals pull it out of that category.

There is just something in song of pocchong ~Shizuka no Uta~ that is beyond the definition of adorable. KOKIA uses some rather uncanny singing techniques in this track which are very hard to describe. In fact, this whole track is very hard to describe, because KOKIA seems to be singing in gibberish as I can’t discern any proper sounding words that could be classified as a human language. XD But even then, she sounds every bit as amazing as in her other lyrical tracks. Somehow, I think of marshmallows every time I listen to it, lol.

Next is the somber and sweet, Gomen ne. Although, this is supposed to be a sad song, there is very little variation in the vocals so it becomes a little harder to endure a little while later. Same with Nani mo Kamo ga Hoshi ni Natte which is, although slightly better than Gomen ne but still, quite boring on its own.

il mare dei suoni is an absolutely amazing track with ethnic undertones sung entirely in Italian. This is probably the most dynamic track in the otherwise somber album and sounds really epic without sounding too cluttered. KOKIA experiments with her voice a lot in this track, she sings in different vocal registers in different parts of the song. At one point I could’ve sworn there were more than two people singing this song because her voice went from awfully high to awfully low. There are backup vocals in the track though, and to very good use. They manage to make the song sound epic, almost as epic as One Winged Angel by Nobuo Uematsu (not the best comparison, but what ever).

Sadly, the next song doesn’t keep this trend up because everlasting is very, very dull. The song is entire in English, and that’s not much of a highlight because the lyrics are rather cheesy. The most interesting thing that happens in this song is a prayer that KOKIA says halfway through, and I thank her for it because that gives it at least a bit of discernibility. And although the next song, Chiisana Uta, isn’t as incredibly dull as everlasting, it’s still a notch too slow for my tastes.

The final track is (drumroll…) another ballad! Watashi ni Dekiru Koto is a song as a tribute to the earthquake victims, and it really shows because this song is one which finally put me in a deep slumber. It’s an incredibly generic ballad with not much going on at all. I wish this song was replaced by Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi, but nooo. They had to add yet another slow piano ballad over a bunch of others prevailing already.

Judgment for this album is really hit-or-miss. It’s either amazing beyond all reason, or so dull that it makes you want to wish you never dissed loud death metal bands. I really, really love tracks like Odayaka na Shizukesa, Todokimasu You ni, il mare dei suoni, while there are some tracks that I wished had never been sung. Even though the majority of songs on this album are absolutely amazing, the final three overshadow all the previous brilliance. Call it personal taste, but I think she put too many similar sounding tracks together so they grate together badly. Still, an excellent album in its own right. I wish KOKIA good luck for whatever her future projects are, and request her to make some of her songs sound a bit more…interesting.

Overall grade: A-