[Sirea]

Quick note upon re-reading: Sorry about the length, I get carried away ^-^;. Read the whole thing if you want, or ignore it altogether. I don't care. I'm just happy to get to finally review and listen to this album!!

YAY I finally get to do a review of my own! I've been listening to the album all day today to make sure I'm not just working off first impressions alone. I'm also going to listen to each song as I go along to make sure I know exactly what it is I'm talking about xD

SO EXCITING. Kayy here goes.

01. Love song - 9/10
I love this piano intro. Love it to death. To pieces, in fact. Ayu sounds really strong on this, and very healthy. The song itself is just the right balance between catchy and heavy. The only thing I have a problem with is how she pronounces the syllables "-masu ka". It's just weird for some reason. Other than that, this is amazing.

02. crossroad - 9/10
Probably my favorite single from this album. But I really like all the singles. I don't know. Whatevs, this song is great.

03. MOON - 8/10
A solid single, lots of heavy instrumentation... it's emotional yet not so much so that it becomes unpleasant to listen to due to its heaviness. I'd go so far to call it a 'typical Ayu song', but I mean that in the best sense possible.

04. sending mail - 9/10
I like how this song starts with the piano (more classical influence) then slowly brings in some electronic feel into the album. It's very powerful and energetic, and has a nice build into the chorus. That being said, I find the melody of the chorus to be a little strange. Maybe I'm just not used to it yet, but the whole "MUSICMUSICMUSICMUSIC -quick silence- MUSICMUSICMUSIC" thing is a little jarring. Not a huge problem though.

05. Last angel - 10/10
Okay I lied. THIS might be my favorite single. Once again does the whole classical-into-electronic thing, but it works. It's just a pleasant song to listen to.

06. insomnia - 9/10
I love this interlude because it really does sound like its name. Very tense like a sleepless night... it's haunting in some respects too. Once again, we have strings and electronic sounds together, which make me happy. Only beef is that I wish more was done with this idea... I don't want this particular interlude extended to a full song, but make 'insomnia' into a full song that does sound like a sleepless night.

07. Like a doll - 7/10
This miiiiight be my least favorite song on the album but it's not definite yet because it may just need to grow on me. As it stands though, it seems sort of jumpy. Almost as though it can't decide on a mood or a style. It does too many different genre-jumps for one song. Like I said, it might grow on me though.

08. Aria - 9/10
Pretty, classical-inspired interlude. Very happy sounding. Only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because I can't imagine myself giving any interlude a 10... haha I don't know. It's just a weird thing with me.

09. blossom - 8/10
It's a good song. I feel like there's nothing more to say about it. It fits, it sounds good, and it doesn't make me want to drive a drill through my skull. That's really all I ask for anyway.

10. Thank U - 10/10
I'm so freaking happy she decided to put on a BLUE BIRD type upbeat tune on this album. It's something she hasn't done in awhile. I just smiled myself silly when I heard this song.

11. Sweet Season - 9/10
This song gets stuck in my head. It's beautiful and sentimental. I remember sitting on a bench at school with this playing on my ipod, and in front of me was a lawn covered in fallen leaves. I was just enjoying the sunshine and the breeze, when suddenly the wind blew toward me right as the chorus came in and all the leaves began rushing toward me. It was such a lovely moment... the song fit it so well and I felt so good right then. So I'll always associate this song with that moment.

12. overture - 9/10
Another classical interlude to please the music geek in me. It builds fantastically and feels almost like that point in a video game when your party is headed toward the final boss and there's that determination and heroism in the air. Haha strange analogy I know...

13. do it again - 8/10
I listened to this song with my boyfriend for the first time. We were enjoying the piano opening very much, and then, god, her Engrish came in. He collapsed on the floor laughing - keep in mind he loves J-music just like me so it's not out of a lack of understanding - but he just couldn't get over how she sounded. I sort of agree that the chorus is odd due to the Engrish issue, and GOD I wanted this song to be danceable when I heard the title. All in all though, save for the chorus, it's still a good song... completely works after overture.

14. November - 8/10
Yay more orchestration! I expected to this song to be, well, sappier, and slower, but I'm not gonna complain. I'm not crazy about ballads anyway. Like the rest of the album, it fits well with the rest, makes the big picture prettier by its presence and doesn't really piss me off so it's all good. The melodies in the orchestral transitions can be a little odd though.

15. Virgin Road - 10/10
God. This song's so pretty. The lyrics tear me up. I wish this song was in English or I was born Japanese or something, because I'd love to sing this for my mom at my wedding. It's wonderful.

16. SEVEN DAYS WAR live - 9/10
It's different. Hearing songs live for the first time is always weird for me, because her voice isn't what I'm used to it sounding like on the recording, and here, she seems to be chopping the ends of phrases short for whatever reason which is odd. The performance seems to be very emotional though, and knowing when it was from, it makes sense that she'd cry while singing this particular song... even though this isn't my favorite song ever, I applaud the performance more than anything.

OVERALL: 9/10

Amazing album, truly. Each piece makes sense. It doesn't seem like just a collection of random songs she decided to sling together. This album seems more purposeful than many of her recent releases... as though the same thoughts, ideas and emotions flow through the songs. I have to admit, it's something to enjoy more as a whole. I always have trouble figuring out which song I want to listen to out of all of them, but if I just start at Love song and let it go, I enjoy it more.

Plus, I'm crazy about the orchestral and classical influences here, since I'm a music major at school. I wish I heard more classical influenced pop these days. The electronic stuff is amazing as well, feels like a nod to Next Level a bit, which is one of my favorite Ayu albums.

So much wonderful here. I'm beyond satisfied.