Contemplating from afar

In between C75 release, I searched for some old stuff. Umineko’s vocal left me good impression, so I decided to search for other album of Shikata Akiko. Shikata Akiko was first a doujin singer and composer for her circle, VAGRANCY. She started in 2001 with a small album consisting of 4 tracks. It didn’t meet a lot of success.

In 2002, she released Haikyo to Rakuen, with 11 tracks. This album was a huge success and it’s easy to understand why. Listening to it is like traveling. Shikata Akiko makes people traveling thanks to her style, quite folkloric. It’s a bit celtic, a bit middle age, and still modern. It start with a song in Italian “Come raggio di sol”, with lots of vocal, chorus, and a few string instrument. I heard that she also sings the chorus. If you liked Umineko’s vocal, and this one, chance are you will love the whole album.

The first 5 tracks are my favorite and it’s rare that I like more than 2 tracks in an album. Second one “Roma no Musume”  is really folkloric. I can easily imagine a party around the fire in a small village, with people dancing. It does change from the usual JPOP. Next track is rather soothing, with some impressive vocal. Really, it’s a nice album that I recommend to listen if you like that style of music. As always, it’s in FLAC, and zipped this time.

Haikyo to Rakuen

Aside of this, she also have 2 commercial albums, but they don’t have the same touch as this one, but are still good. She also worked on Ar Tonelico so some of you might have already heard her before.