Kou Shibasaki — Circle Cycle — music review

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Chris Nelson

I just picked up Kou Shibasaki’s Circle Cycle last weekend, and I’m totally loving it. Shibasaki’s previous CDs seem to be populated primarily by film-credit songs…you know, the type that are pleasantly emotional and/or melancholic, but don’t really get you tapping your feet. But with Circle Cycle, she’s really stepped up her game, striking a nice balance between romantic ballads and funky, energetic pieces.

The first two tracks, ‘wish’ and ‘Parallel World Reading’ open a bit like a Miki Nakatani electronic experiments — you know, the kind of art-galley-electronica, but quickly drop the pretension and escalate to some rather catchy pieces. ‘wish’ becomes a sort of reflective love song, while ‘Parallel’ becomes danceably downbeat. I like them both quite a bit.

The first song I can really find in a shareable format is ‘Mukei Spirit’. It’s very fun, with a sort of ‘Katamari’ feel to it. Take a listen here:

Other tracks that I can’t find videos for, but which are equally awesome include ‘The Circle of Love’, a peppy little piece with a driving beat and some background electronica, ‘Genomichrome’, which is similarly themed, but with a darker sound and heavy levels of distortion (for some reason brings to mind Final Fantasy VII bosses…), and ‘Focus’, which features a prominent bass guitar and a rather catchy chanting chorus.

She also has a pretty nice English language track called “Graspin’ All of It”, complete with a funky electric piano and sassy lyrics. Just take this lyric sample for instance:

Way that you talk’s a little bit adjusted
What is really up tonight?
Seein’ that you’re just a little pity bastard
What is really up tonight?
I’ve got a hunch you really got it messed up
I may decide to kill based on whatcha got to say

Kou Shibasaki, threatening violence again. I love it.

But a Kou Shibasaki album wouldn’t be complete without a few love songs. ‘Sayonalove’ stands somewhere between the electronic pop and farewell song… Other tracks, such as ‘Euphoria’ fall in the category of her emotional power ballads. You can take a listen here:

Overall, I think Circle Cycle is her best album yet. Even better than her Single Best compilation CD. It’s been in heavy rotation in my personal programming music library, and I imagine it will be there for some time.

About the Author

When Chris Nelson isn’t listening to awesome Jpop, he can be found watching movies.