alan – hitotsu (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)

June 26, 2008 by Dennis Amith 

“The second CD single from Avex Trax’s Tibetan/Chinese J-Pop singer featuring a beautiful ballad and several upbeat tracks showing the musical potential of this solo artist. The mixture of traditional Chinese instruments into her music and also a bit of Tibetan high notes is just beautiful.”

ARTIST: alan

CD SINGLE: hitotsu

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-31376/B

DURATION: 33:39

RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2008

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

1. hitotsu
2. Kimi Omou Sora
3. Tokyo Mimei
4. sign
5. hitotsu (Instrumental)
6. Kimi Omou Sora (Instrumental)
7. Tokyo Mimei (Instrumental)

DVD: 4:3, Region 2, Duration: 8 minutes

1. hitotsu
2. Tokyo Mimei

Avex Trax artist alan returns with a beautiful ballad for her 2nd CD single.

The Tibetan/Chinese artist who continues to release music in China has been promoting her 2nd CD single and most recently performed at the huge Avex Shareholders concert at Saitama Super Arena in June 2008.

I enjoyed her first CD single “Ashita e no Sanka” and enjoyed the use of Chinese traditional instruments into her music and also how she would sing in Japanese but then sing a verse in a higher-pitched Tibetan style. Definitely makes her a bit unique compared to the many J-Pop female solo artists on the avex trax label.

The first track “hitotsu” is a beautiful ballad which piano and the strings enhance the beautiful mood and just a touch of a traditional sound courtesy of Geral Murlhead on the Uillean pipes. All in all, her second major track is pretty cool! The track is somewhat of an eco-friendly song I suppose. The track is about the world being delicate like a bubble and has one soul.

The second track “Kimi Omou Sora” is an upbeat pop song that has the traditional Chinese flute playing during parts of the song.

The third track “Tokyo Mimei” is another beautiful pop ballad that features a good blend of acoustic guitar and strings. I have to say that I enjoy how Chieko Kinbara Strings enhanced this overall track, along with Furukawa Masayoshi on acoustic guitar.

The fourth track “sign” is a remix featuring alan singing in her high pitch Tibetan style. An underground, experimental remix track by tasuku featuring more of the overall groove and beat but interlaced with alan’s short vocals at certain spots of the overall track. Pretty cool, especially if you dig when alan starts singing in Tibetan. I love it!

The remaining three tracks are instrumentals of the first three songs on the CD single.

As for the DVD, the music video for “hitotsu” features alan lying in a snow background and is awaken by a bubble (the planet Earth). She walks through an area where snow is on the ground and the trees are covered in white and features her singing. Then pink cherry blossom petals start to fall and give color to the overall white scenery.

The second track features an image collection of alan and a short presentation by the artist. The behind-the-scenes video footage features alan playing a Chinese traditional instrument and singing in front of a live audience. Also, the filming of her music video “hitotsu” and then transitions to a new music video for “Tokyo Mimei” featuring alan in Tokyo.

The CD insert is a quad-fold which feature alan on one side and lyrics and production credits on the other.

I enjoyed the first two CD singles from alan so far. I’m hoping that there is appeal for the artist, may it be her musical work in Japan or China to support her.

This CD single actually shows us a different side of her music, of her taking on a ballad and video-wise, showing that outside of being just a vocalist, she’s also a musician.

But all in all, I’ve enjoyed her music and really enjoy how traditional instruments are introduced and especially when she incorporates the high-pitched Tibetan vocals into her pop songs and ballads.

So, if you are looking for someone different from the many female J-Pop singers out there, give alan a try

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