Nowadays, I seldom write about the music I listen to. Not as often anyway. With legal and unlimited music download, it matters little if it is a good album, or a bad one. Because worst case, I delete the album off my digital storage. On average, I listen to an album once, or twice, and then move onto the next one.
Once in a while, there are still albums that cannot be downloaded. The charm of opening the case of a new album, savoring the artwork, listening to each track with such an attention and anticipation, all because I have paid twenty bucks for the entire package. One of my recent purchases is YUI’s fifth album. YUI tends to release plenty of singles (5 from this album so far) without an album in sight. Imagine how ecstatic I was when I found her new album in store.
Being a Japanese artist who writes and performs her own songs, it is expected that “Holidays In The Sun” would sound much like her previous albums. And it does. In addition to her playing guitar, in this album, she plays the piano too for the opening track “to Mother”. It is refreshing. And it is also the only song in the album that features her piano track with no guitar overlay. I wish that “to Mother” has as much of an impact as her other slow songs from her previous albums such as “Tomorrow’s Way” or “LOVE & TRUTH”. Hence, on first listen, there seems to be something missing. Something like a “LOVE & TRUTH” would be nice. Then again, the overall mood of this album is upbeat. Memorable upbeat tracks like “es.car” and “I do it” can easily please a live audience. “Holidays In The Sun”, as a whole, is pleasant to listen to. Fans would be pleased, for sure.
Her songwriting is not perfect. At times I think she may have squeezed in one too many syllables into a sentence. Her singing is not perfect. At times I think she has gone out of breath trying to deliver what she envisions to deliver. But what transpires, to me, is her being genuine and sincere and trust that her fans would appreciate the purity within. I wish I could share a video of hers to demonstrate my last point. Perhaps the one with her siting near the edge of the stage singing to a concert audience with only her guitar, in candle lights. Just like how she is used to sneak through the streets, find a quiet spot, and start singing with her guitar to initially nobody and soon a gathering crowd. Even the music video of her latest single “to Mother” would have proved my point. The good news is, if you purchase “Holidays In The Sun”, it comes with a DVD that contains 6 music videos, “to Mother” included.
And so, the waiting of her yet another new album continues. I hope it would take less than 2 years this time.
2 replies on “YUI – Holidays In The Sun – A Pleasant Album, Still Same Style”
Hey, nice to meet you. I’m a YUI fan myself, a very recent one to be frank. I was sort of floating around Youtube one day and came across her song “Again” and everything started from there. Anyway, really glad to see a Singaporean who loves YUI too. 😀 Honestly, I despaired when I discovered she actually start 5 years ago. I was extremely late, but still, she is going strong even after such a long time. Happy for her, and will support her as much as I possibly can. 🙂
David – Hi there! Thanks for dropping by. YUI is indeed very talented and from my limited experience to J-Pop, she seems unique. Do not be despaired! I am very sure that YUI will continue to publish music for a while. At least you don’t need to constantly in a wait for her new materials for years (but now you do!)
Have you listened to all her albums yet? And she has a concert video recording too.