Deco*27: Aimai Elegy (2010) Review

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 This is one of the first Vocaloid albums that I listened to, and honestly, one of the best (probably a biased view but hey, what are reviews for?). This is what cemented my love for listening to whole albums as a really thematically connected piece - especially when they blend together. It's been almost 11 years since this album was released, but whenever I come back to this, I still love it. 

1. entree

A great acoustic, soft introduction to the theme of this album. This is the prelude to the next song, and it just works so well. One of my faves even as a standalone, but its perfect as a prelude too. 

2. モザイクロール / Mozaik Role - marina

What a fucking BOP this is - the way entree just bleeds into this song. I love the rawness of Marina's vocal, and the melody of this is great with the guitar just going off in the back. Fantastic. Love this. 

3. ショコラビーツ / Chocolate Beats - Hatsune Miku

Great tune. Real catchy. Love it. It's Hatsune Miku. All great things.

4. トリノアイウタ / Tori no Ai Uta / Bird Love Song - GUMI

I personally don't have a lot of comments about this song - it's a bit more relaxed and casual sing song times, it's nice but uh, I've never went out of my way to listen to this. 

5. 愛迷エレジー / Aimai Elegy / Love-Lost Elegy - marina

Looking back on this, I think I'm just obsessed with marina. I think real singers just have a rawness and a power that vocaloids don't have (singer bias), but yeah again, this is like the spiritual sequel to Mozaik Role / mosaic roll, and with the guitar riff and the catchy melody, yeah i like this. It also has this low key angry bit in the middle with a rhythm change, which is interesting. Fun. Inventive. 

6. 飴模様 / Ame Moyō / Candy Pattern - GUMI

I really like this melody actually - a friend of mine once said she preferred GUMI's vocal to Hatsune's because it's a bit more natural, I don't really have any preference for either one I think... But I like this song. It's nice. 

7. 未来世 / Miraise / Future World - Topi

This is a nice song but again, not one I'm going out of my way to listen to, although the melody is catchy and sometimes sticks in my brain....

8. ベリーブルー (DECO*27 Vocal Mix) / Berry Blue (DECO*27 Vocal Mix) - DECO*27

I actually weirdly enough, really like this. I like the bass line of this a lot - and the male vocals in this is a nice change in timbre too. I love a bass line and a good chord progresion. 

9. 弱虫モンブラン / Yowamushi Montblanc / Coward Montblanc - marina

Yeahhhhhhhhhh Marina! Again, the vocals with the guitar popping off- although this time we've got a bit of a violin interlude jabbed in there. Overall, a more slow paced song compared to the others, but there's a bit with just her vocals and minimal music and we all know how I feel about a fadeaway like that. Thank you Marina. 

10. outree

Yes I love this - fading out with a tinkly slow paced instrumental version of Yowamushi MontBlanc like an after thought. Very good. Just such a good thematic move.

11. 愛言葉(sasakure.UK Sweets Remix) / Ai Kotoba / Love Words (sasakure.UK Sweets Remix) - mirto

I like this - very catchy and fun. Cute little twinkly sounds on the opening, with a cute little melody. Yeah. Good. mirto does a good job on this track. 

12. 弱虫モンブラン(ELECTROCUTICA White Remix) / Yowamushi Montblanc / Coward Montblanc (ELECTROCUTICA White Remix) - GUMI

this is interesting - even after all these years, i'm not the sort of person who listens to a lot of remixes of songs, but it's fun to see how the same song uses the melody line but changes the background and it feels like a whole different song. I know Sondheim does this as a thematic melody through his musicals, but like, it's cool to see it used in different ways too. It's more of a cutesy take on the original song, but both of them are fun. 

13. モザイクロール(kous DR Remix) / Mozaik Role (kous DR Remix) - kous feat. Hatsune Miku

Another one fo the remixes that are like - I know they're supposed to be the same song but they feel so different! This almost feels like a slice of life anime ED - the melody line is almost completely changed, along with the tempo and rhythm. I don't like this as much - but it's a fun change. 


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