Love this Love!

This is Love's second album since the disbandment of CORE OF SOUL, the group she fronted. Her first solo effort, Embryo Love Songs, was a bit disappointing for me as it mostly played like a CORE OF SOUL album. Naturally, I thought Confetti wouldn't show much improvement. Thankfully our Love is out to make a liar out of me.

While some tracks (Confetti, Odorei, Devil's Cry) play like fairly standard acoustic pop rock, there's always something a little more interesting in Love's work. Tracks like Mabataki, Don't Be Sorry, and Anata o Wasureru Sono Mae ni are more acoustic and slower tempoed pieces that range from super sweet, to a bit darker and almost hollow feeling. They add some real heart and soul to the album.

Love also ventured off into new territory with a couple of electronic infused pieces. Blue Finch feels like a bright and riveting breeze. It has great energy, and Love did a fantastic job on the piece. The chorus is incredibly strong, and propels the song right along. It makes me want to run just to get the music out of me! The other electronic inspired piece is Chinmoku no Scorpio which really surprised me. It's noisy, hectic and chaotic in arrangement, which is pretty different for Love. I really like the chorus, particularly the stomping break-down bits. What really caught me off guard though, was how much of a blatant rip-off of Utada Hikaru's Celebrate the verses are. The melody is EXACTLY the same., and I was actually upset to hear it. The rest of the song is completely cool and original, but the verses taint it.

This album saw Love step away from the types of songs she's used to writing, and experiment with some new arrangements and sounds. The disc plays fluidly and is an excellent listen. I found it fairly refreshing and revitalizing at a time when J-pop felt quite stale to me. I'm glad to see growth and evolution from a very talented singer, songwriter and musician. I greatly look forward to the next step in Love's journey.