Aya Hirano - Promise

Kita Kitsune Monogatari Ashita e IN

Tracklist:

1. Promise

2. Takaramono

3. Up To Date

4. Promise -Instrumental-

5. Takaramono -Instrumental-

1. Promise

A silent piano opens the first track, lonely in its chord progressions until it's joined by the standard instrumentation of the acoustic guitar and violins. Although its framework is somewhat generic ambiental melodies and a simple melodic structure, Aya has succeeded in taming her deep and wild voice into a slower tempo, as it is linked with background vocals, especially in the chorus. Nothing notably eventful happens until, unexpectedly, the middle eight section starts with a too dramatic transition for a soft ballad like this one, but afterwards breaks down into a vocal-only cadence which gains tempo and concludes the song.

Rating: 6 ½

2. Takaramono

Commencing the next song is a quirky, lullaby-like synth and an acoustic guitar, which, contrary to the expectations of another ballad, pick up and gain a mid-tempo dance rhythm. This intro is unusually stretched out, as it slowly builds up to the place where Aya's vocals finally join in with the melody, as if this was an instrumental version halfway, and quite suddenly enter the chorus after only a few lines, without a tie to the previous melody. Accordingly, her voice is being filtered and backed-up all the time to give a dreamy feel to the track, even though it already had a laid-back character. Promise and Takaramono are very similar, but Takaramono takes the win for that slight dash of originality not present in the A-side.

Rating: 7

3. Up To Date

Wrapping up the single with a third song, a fast, impending intro sets off and turns into a cheerful, rocky guitar chord swap. After two more J-pop oriented songs, it's welcome to hear her main style again with this kind of an uplifting rock track, which carries the anison atmosphere with it. Even though the background vocals are over-layered so much they sound almost like a male voice, Aya lets her full strength loose, as she climbs to bigger heights and hits multiple vibrato in the duration of the song. It's not one of her best yet, but Up To Date does carry a pleasant sound of her past.

Rating: 7

Ever since her label shift, Aya hasn't gotten a single anime tie-in, which reflects in how her songs are mostly turning out lately; recycled and cliche (Hoshikuzu Garandou is excluded from this, fortunately), with an occasional return to her old style.

My overall rating is: 7.

Will I return for an another listen: No.

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Aya Hirano - Hoshikuzu Garandou

DoDonPachi Saidaioujou OP

Tracklist:

1. Hoshikuzu Garandou (Game Ver.)

2. Hoshikuzu Garandou (Original Ver.)

I'll be skipping the first track, since it's just a 90-second short version.

2. Hoshikuzu Garandou (Original Ver.)

A laid-back, jazzy electronica sequence opens Aya's new single, suddenly exploding into an agressive barrage of synths and hard guitars in a very fast tempo. Here, the classical game music sound is shifted around a bit with the hell-like atmosphere in the verses and the effective switches with Aya's vocal solos. Surprisingly, though, her vocals aren't filtered at all, which is what one would expect in such a techno-driven song, but it is a sign of how her voice has matured from the good old days of Haruhi Suzumiya to the now serious and powerful performance. In contrast with the constant build-ups and downs with the song's flow, the middle eight section returns to the funky ambient back from the introduction, employing a glissando (gliding) piano and western-like guitar melodies, only for unusual dubstep synths and a prolonged vocal solo to finish the track with an impressive chord.

Rating: 9

Judging by the style of her previous single back in February, nobody could have guessed that Aya would do another tie-in. Still, her music sounds quite compelling, and is a definite listen for everyone, both her anison and J-pop audience. My overall rating is: 9

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Aya Hirano - TOxxxIC

Tracklist:

1. TOxxxIC
2. ミライボイジャー
3. ミライボイジャー (Aya ver.)
4. TOxxxIC (off vocal)
5. ミライボイジャー (off vocal)

1. TOxxxIC

Right from the beggining, we get something very unlike the old Aya. Aside from the ocassional dubstep, the whole track is very similar to American pop music, and very synth-heavy. This is not a surprise, as it was composed by Steve Diamond, who writes for Britney Spears and some other pop stars. The song is one of those where you'll either love or hate it intantly. Aya's vocals are a bit underwhelming here, but nothing too bad (like the performance on the Haruhi Suzumiya concert). I can partially blame the song itself, since there aren't almost any jumps out of the range of 3-4 tones.
Rating: 7 (out of 10)

2. ミライボイジャー

I'm not quite sure if this is Aya with too much vocoder, or an actual Vocaloid. Unlike TOxxxIC, the song sounds like it is made for an anime. It's very upbeat, featuring Aya's signature light rock style from her older days with Lantis. The vocals have greater "quality" than usual Vocaloid voices, especially in the refrain, where her voice can be very high. I like it very much! :3
Rating: 7.5

3. ミライボイジャー (Aya ver.)

Exact same song as the previous, except that the Vocaloid-ish voice is replaced with legit Aya. Now, it sounds like a true Haruhi Suzumiya opening or character song. What Aya lacks in vocals in the first song, she makes up here, singing to the same heights as the voice in tne previous song.
Rating: 9


Universal Music, the label Aya has transferred to after leaving Lantis completely changed her style for this single. It seems that she won't be singing as much anime-tied music as before, but more J-pop stuff. Change can be a good thing, as long as they don't overdo it, which will result in Aya losing her originality she has (like the generic K-Pop music video for this song; lots of dancing and revealing clothes). My overall rating for this single is: 7.6 (don't expect accurate math from me)

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