Higurashi Aiha formed her band first, then learned to play an instrument. It’s that kind of adventurousness that drives her work.
She can be noisy and brash, tender and tuneful, and she’s not afraid to try new things.
That said, Higurashi’s second solo album, platonic, is all over the place, and that could be good or bad.
Source: Bounce.com
Higurashi Aiha releases a new single, “cherish my life”, on Dec. 1. Asa-Chang produces the new song, which serves as the ending theme for the Tetzuka Motoko’s Synchronicity. The single’s coupling songs are “beautiful” and “Steve, Steve, me”. The single is the first new work from the songwriter since her solo debut, Born Beautiful. Higurashi is aiming to release a second album in spring 2005.
Higurashi Aiha’s work with Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her can be described with a number of similar-sounding adjectives.
Gritty, rough, deadpan, punk.
“Tender” isn’t one of them.
So perhaps that’s why Higurashi opted to collect her most introspective writing for her debut solo album, Born Beautiful.
The cover of the album is somewhat sarcastic — Higurashi’s lifeless expression on a magazine cover obscured by a paperweight. But the title of the album makes for a good description of its contents.
Higurashi still dashes off a fair amount of swagger — “Cherry (Sakura no Saku Koro)” finds the songwriter giving a breathy performance over a classic rock-styled riff. And with a few more guitars, “Koibito” could have been a serviceable Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her song.
But the majority of the album is definitely scaled back from the ambition of her main project. The shades of rock ‘n’ roll history cast a shadow over most of the songs.
There’s almost a bubblegum pop quality to the pre-release singles, “New Life” and “Fantasy”, but it’s a quality imbued with the world weariness intrinsic to Higurashi’s voice.
On “I’m your girl”, her performance falls somewhere between rock ‘n’ roll bad girl and blues storyteller.
Other tracks find Higurashi exploring a more confessional tone. “A rhythm like my heart beat” is already a telling title — the lyrics, in English, follow suite.
“Sin” finishes the album with a series of guitar overtones and sparse lyrics — nothing more.
With Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her, Higurashi asserted herself as a rocker, a guitar-slinging woman who could play as loud as the best of them.
Born Beautiful pretty much dashes those expectations. Here, she asserts herself as a songwriter, one with enough nuance to rock when she has to but whisper when it’s suitable.