Kalafina never fails to deliver the grand, sweeping, lace covered goods. "Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa," their new single, has more than enough of all that to go around. It's way, way down-tempo and almost acapella at times, with the dual and triple vocal harmonies doing all the heavy lifting. That is until the flute comes in and then it's all just too new-age-y world-music much for me to handle. But the video is nice enough. I can't imagine anyone tromping around in the dust and the much in those wispy dresses, but yeah, it's nice.
A little while back, I was lucky enough to get the chance to interview Kalafina for Japanator when they came to Anime Boston for a performance. We also ran a contest where we invited the Jtor readers to ask their own questions.
The results are now up on Japanator. The group was gracious enough to answer everything the community threw at them, so there should be a lot of interesting stuff there for fans and newcomers alike. Head on over and check it out!
Kalafina is the product of producer and composer Yuki Kajiura, along with a bevvy of vocalists, currently Keiko Kubota, Wakana Ootaki, Maya and Hikaru. Kajiura's massive back catalog is a bit daunting to try and sum up. The highlights? The Xenosaga III OST, the Noir, .hack//Sign and My Hime anime OSTs (among many others), as well as being a member of See Saw and FictionJunction. All of these (and much more) easily puts her on-par with the great Yoko Kanno. But let's not get distracted.
Kalafina have just released their first full-length album unto the world. It centers around the animated film series Kara no Kyoukai. As someone with no prior exposure to the series, I can't speak on how well the music fits the series. So, anime aside, I'll focus on the music (which is why we're here, after all.)
Hit up the full review after the jump!
Oblivious (live)
The album opens with a brief ambient "Overture" before kicking straight into "Oblivious," also the debut single from the band. It sets the tone for the rest of the album well. Most of Seventh Heaven is decidedly electronic, yet organic and thrumming with life. The album art presents an apt visual equivalent to the music inside. Darkly elegant without being overly gothic, covered in lace and exotic bird feathers. "Oblivious" is all of that presented with almost tribal trance beats, spaced out synths and almost operatic harmonies from the singers.
Aria (live)
"Love Come Down" is a much more upbeat track featuring squealing violins and guitars along with the same sort of burbling, pillowy synths. "Natsu no ringo" takes a hard turn towrd down-tempo folk themes with a Celtic feel, complete with folksy drums, flutes and acoustic guitars. It's Lord of the Rings run through an even more fantastical kaleidoscope. "Fairytale" and "Aria" keep things calm with a more traditional anime style sound. You can almost visualize the closing credits rolling over rippling waves, girls riding bicycles into the sunset, trees blowing in the wind etc etc. All the while the vocals present many layers of harmonies and an almost angelic choir of voices.
Sprinter
Things get back to serious business with "Mata Kaze ga Tsuyokunatta," one of the few songs original to this album. It's a track much like "Love Come Down," this time featuring a lead cello along with the more aggressive singing and some really rocking drums. In fact the album stick close to the format of a few light, calm and fantastical song bookended by stomping, intense dance tracks. With the exception of "Sprinter," a rock rock song almost on-par with that of Abingdon Boys School in terms of its sheer epicness, Kalafina does one thing very well, but perhaps relies on this style a little too much. At least for a lengthy album like the fourteen track Seventh Heaven. Calling them a one-trick pony would be a grievous error. All of the material on the album is expertly crafted and produced. All of the performance are presented with everything the musicians and vocalists have got. In fact it's all almost too well maintained and controlled. Crafted to fit too well into a specific musical and emotional realm which causes the later tracks to begin running together. Yet for fans, Seventh Heaven is indeed the most perfect offering they could ask for. It never once wavers in its vision or high quality.
Seventh Heaven
Kalafina will be performing at Anime Boston later this month. Also, don't forget to enter the contest running right now on Japanator to win some signed Kalafina merch from the show!
You can buy Seventh Heaven at various on-line shops like Amazon and iTunes, as well as in physical form at CDJapan.
Kalafina is going to be playing at Anime Boston later this month. I'll have a chance to talk with them while they are at the con for Japanator.com. In addition, we are also giving away some signed stuff from the group, and you could win it!
All you have to do is post a question for the group in the comments of this post. A winner will be chosen at random, and the best questions will also be added to the main list for the interview.
You have until May 20th to submit your best question, so start thinking and get posting. Good luck!
Kalafina is the product of producer and composer Yuki Kajiura, along with a bevvy of vocalists, currently Keiko Kubota, Wakana Ootaki, Maya and Hikaru. Kajiura's massive back catalog makes her worthy of an entry all to herself. The highlights? The Xenosaga III OST, the Noir, .hack//Sign and My Hime anime OSTs (among many others), as well as being a member of See Saw and FictionJunction. All of these (and much more) easily puts her on-par with the great Yoko Kanno. But let's not get distracted.
The music of Kalafina, like much of Kajiura's work, is also based around anime. For Kalafina, Kara no Kyoukai is the series of movies (based on novels) that provides their muse. Their style runs the gamut from a Middle Eastern to Celtic feel, pop to operatic, classical to rock.
Not everything they've released has been directly tied to the series, but only a few songs seem to have a life of their own. For the most part, Kalafina could legitimately be called an anime band, though "band" might be going a bit far since Kajiura does all the actual composing and recording. The vocal parts are performed by a group of women, all presented in very regal and ethereal forms. Again, one is reminded of Kanno's works like the Macross Plus OST, at least in the vocal department. The Kalafina sound is decidedly electronic, yet dark and organic, a feeling echoed in the groups videos. They are always presented in very ornate, almost gothic regalia, residing in lush, fantastical environments.
Far from being a typically vapid studio creation leaning heavily on a cute "moe" crutch, the work of Kalafina is rock solid and very well developed. Kajiura is truly a talented producer, drawing on her deep understanding of music from all over the world. This musical maturity is desperately needed in the world of anime and video games, and something that will always be a welcome change.
May 22-24 Kalafina Anime Boston Hynes Convention Center, Boston MA
Source: PR (see below)
Kalafina x Yuki Kajiura @ Anime Boston 2009!! May 22-24th at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston MA
Kalafina Bio
Kalafina is a songstress project that started from female vocalist auditions held by hit maker/composer, Yuki Kajiura.
During the auditions, the singers with voices that met with Kajiura’s high expectations, performed each of the songs composed by Yuki Kajiura, and the best vocalists were selected forming the style of this group. Surely as each song differs, the charming music from these singers will begin to take shape.
Kalafina; Wakana, Keiko, and Hikaru, made their debut in January 2008, with their single “oblivious”, which reached #8 on the Oricon (equivalent to Billboard) weekly chart.
Their second single “sprinter/ARIA”, and third single “fairytale” have also made the top 10 in the Oricon chart.
Kalafina is greatly featured for the theme song of the famous anime film series, “The Garden of Sinners (Kara no Kyoukai)”, which their DVD has sold more than 500,000 copies total.
On March 4th 2009, they will simultaneously release their first album “Seventh Heaven” and 4th single “Lacrimosa”, which is the ending theme of another popular anime series, “Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji).
-Kalafina Official Website- www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Info/kalafina
Yuki Kajiura Bio
Yuki Kajiura is a multi-music composer who handles lyric, music arrangement. She has extensive music production experience games, musicals, and television.
As a member of her own group called “See-Saw”, she produced datta noni” (Although We Were Always Together) for the ending “Mobile Suit Gundam SEED”, which became a big hit.
Since 2007, Kajiura has been in charge of the music for all 7 of “The Garden of Sinners” (Kara no Kyoukai) film adaptations, and in addition started the music project she put together, Kalafina. In 2008, Kajiura held her first solo live performance, and she’s also held a collaboration live show with “Revo” of Sound Horizon in Kobe, Yokohama, and Tokyo which brought together over 10,000 people.
Other recent projects Kajiura has involved with, includes being the music director for the film “Akiresu to Kame” (Achilles and the Tortoise) directed by the internationally renowned movie director / actor / comedian, Takeshi “Beat” Kitano, and she continues to pursue the Kajiura world.
-Yuki Kajiura Official Website- www.fictionjunction.com/index2.html
J-Pop and J-Rock are only the beginning. The modern Japanese music scene is just as vibrant and varied as any other music scene in the world. I'm Zac Bentz, writer, musician, designer and all around Japanese music fanatic. Here I hope to share with you a comprehensive (!!) list of Japanese artists and bands (with a strong focus on underground and indie acts) that you may or may not have heard of, in the hopes of expanding our mutual awareness of Japanese music.
I don't mean to suggest that everything I listen to is great. Quite the contrary, I hope that you will take the time to recommend your own favorite artists in the comments so that we can all learn a bit more about the huge range of Japanese music that's out there.
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