Keys to Everything

1. Sakurairo
2. Again
3. Today
4. Ai no Uta
5. Tashika ni
6. Silent Girl
7. Moral no Soushiki
8. Otome Gokoro
9. One Melody
10. Tomo no Shirushi
11. Kodoku no Kakera
12. On and On
13. Surrender

Sakurairo is one of the most graceful and elegant ballads I have ever heard. Angela composed this song with so much sensitivity and passion and it is evident in every note she plays and sings. Sakurairo has a very simple opening, but the use of a gorgeous string arrangement and the simple chords make it a moving one. The introduction of the band in the second part of the first verse doesn’t overpower the rest of the instrumentation and the bridge involves some awesome orchestral things (XD). Which brings me to the chorus. If the rest of the song is gorgeous, the chorus is mind-blowing. Angela’s vocals are sheer power, she raises her voice to hit some lovely high notes and the ending ‘Zutto/Motto”’s are pure love. The building of the lyrics, band and orchestra towards the end is the point I always look forwards to when I listen to Sakurairo. It ends just like it begins; simple and unpretentious.

Track Rating; A*

Again has a lot to live up to. Any song being placed after Sakurairo would have the same problem, but intelligently Again is a completely different kind of song. Overall a much more energetic affair, Again uses the band and orchestra to the same effect as Sakurairo and there are more brilliant high-notes from Angela, but the style of song is such an enormous-ish change from the previous track they can’t really be compared. The repetition of lyrics during the chorus makes it very memorable and the pauses just before it starts are incredibly well paced. Angela’s brilliant piano skills are featured in various parts of the track, but it never feels as if it’s for the sake of it. Each section of the song is blended seemlessly into the next bit, no matter how different they could be.

Track Rating; A+

Today slows us right down… for all of four ‘todays‘ before it introduces the band and picks up the pace again. This song doesn’t employ the orchestra but focuses on the band especially during the chorus where everyone in basically bashing the instrument in time. The effect is brilliant and the strength of the beat makes it an easy track to go along with. The ‘Today”s make it quite a memorable track and the slow down when it’s just Angie and her piano mirrors Again. She knows how to play her cards and Today is one instance when she really shows that she can just jam and doesn’t need the support of strings in a track.

Track Rating; A+

A ballad. Ai no Uta is one of my favourite tracks by Angela Aki. She sings with such a beautiful tone and pace that I can’t stop listening to it. Songs like this make me want to learn the piano, as the backing for most of the song only consists of piano and some strings. Ai no Uta could easily be played as just a piano and a voice, the core of the song is in the lyrics and melody. Not to say that the rest is unnecessary, quite the opposite, the other elements add even more to a song packed with all sorts of goodies. The violins (?) during the instrumental break are just beautiful. For a six minute song, it never seems too long. Even when you think it’s ended, it hasn’t, but that could never be a downside to such an awesome song.

Track Rating; A*

Back to the more energetic songs. Tashikani is packed with pace and variety. Angela’s vocals are energetic and enthusiastic. I’ve heard this song so much and I only just properly realised how much string there is here. The chorus isn’t quite what you’d expect from all the repetition of ‘Tashikani‘ here, there and everywhere but it works. Tashikani isn’t one of my favourite songs on Today, it’s very very very good when you analyse each part of it, but personally I’ve never been as enthusiastic about it as many of the other tracks.

Track Rating; B

Silent Girl is an incredibly unfortunate song. It falls pray to the same fate as Oogesa ni “Aishiteru” before it. It’s placed after one of the fastest songs of the album and seems almost boring in comparison. Silent Girl is one of the cases where you should skip it and listen to it later, because on first impressions it’s not worth your time. When you have listened to it, you realise its beauty. Angela’s vocals are at their best here with soaring high-notes and beautifully sensitive delivery are coupled with some gorgeous piano playing to produce an incredibly underrated track.

Track Rating; A

Moral no Soushiki takes the prize for my favourite track on the album. The darker tone of the verses flowing into the almost hopeful feeling of the chorus mean that this is practically a tour-de-force of emotion shifts. The strings are at their most evocative here and Angela’s left hand must be dying after she plays this because the arrangement is just non-stop. Half way through it lightens up and gives you a breather, with military style drums. I always accepted that, but now I’ve thought about it. Angela even includes Latin in her lyrics with the introduction to the chorus being ‘Pater Noster’. A year and a half of Latin tells me that means ‘Our Father’.

Track Rating; A*

Otome Gokoro is a funky jazz song. The music is a teensy bit repetative but I just love Angela’s vocal delivery. The lyrics have quite a fast pace to them during the bridge unlike the rest of the song, which provides the variety that the musical is lacking a bit. The best bit of the song is probably the chorus because it provides a focus to the song. I think it’s the second shortest song on the album at around four minutes and fifteen-ish seconds, which somewhat works in its favour. I don’t listen to Otome Gokoro much, maybe I should but it shows that it’s not a song that I listen to much as I had to sleep before finishing this paragraph.

Track Rating; B-

One Melody has one of my favourite openings in all of Angela’s work. The simplicity sums up the rest of the track beautifully and when she begins to sing I tend to find myself carried away by the song. ‘There is just one melody’ is the opening line of the chorus and it’s sung gorgeously. Angela’s rich tone carries One Melody. Again, when the band comes in they keep it simple and don’t overpower anything else in the track. 

Track Rating; A

Tomo no Shirushi begins with a double bass solo! You can hear the double bass through the track if you listen for it, so it’s not a completely pointless opening. The actual song is a pretty simple affair. Mostly she sings at a lower tone during the verses but she does raise make her tone lighter during the chorus. Tomo no Shirushi is the perfect song to listen to when you don’t want to think, it completely chills you out and there’s nothing that you wouldn’t expect to come. The final lines of the chorus are my favourite because of the way they lead into the ‘tomo no shirushi‘ line.

Track Rating; A

Kodoku no Kakera is reminiscent of Kiss Me Goodbye in my opinion, especially with the instruments used. The little pieces of woodwind you can hear along with the violins etc. add so much to the overall arrangement. Kodoku no Kakera ties with Sakurairo for second favourite song on the album, simply because of the powerful chorus and the Final Fantasy-ness of it. Angela’s vocal performance here is awesome especially the build in the chorus and when the instrumentation is stripped right down and she sings almost a cappella. I have many fond memories of listening to this song and, even though its meaning goes right over my head, I like to think that I understand and appreciate its sentiment. I could be completely wrong though.

Track Rating; A*

I’ve never particularly liked On and On that much. It never really interested me much. Even though I love the beginning the rest loses my interest pretty quickly. Of course, vocally and lyrically, Angela never fails to impress with some awesome notes and some brilliant English. Unfortunately, On and On falls between two of my favourite songs and therefore I’m never much motivated to listen to it.

Track Rating; B-

Okay, so I whinge and moan and complain when someone ends an album with a ballad. Angela is probably the only exception in the world because when I love to hear from her are the ballads and slow songs. Surrender is a beautiful, lyrical piece which is completely in English like Your Love Song from Home. It feels very much like a lullaby and the delivery is sensitive and sweet and powerful at the same time. As the song goes on you can hear Angela’s voice get more and more emotional and that only adds to the power of the words. To put it simply, you feel like you want to learn something from the lyrics.

Track Rating; A*

Overall… Home was fabulous. TODAY is just as fabulous. It’s realy quite hard to compare the two albums too much as I enjoy them both immensely. From my commentary I’m sure it’s obvious which tracks are my favourites and I hope I summed up why well enough for you to understand. One thing that I haven’t mentioned is that most of these are single tracks, the album tracks had a lot to live up to and mostly they did. In my humble opinion TODAY is a must listen even to those who don’t necessarily appreciate the style of music.

Overall Rating; A*