Shishido Kavka - "Toridori" album review

Shishido Kavka is a drummer and singer who formerly played with the rock band The News. After releasing her debut solo album "Kavkanize" in 2013, her popularity skyrocketed. I unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of the album, but I was into her sound. I could tell she would be somebody to watch, at the very least. It paid off. With the single "Asamade Sugar Me", written by Seiko Oomori herself, I was hooked. That song, which is also the third track on this new album, is one of the best I've heard in a while. Was it just Seiko Oomori's songwriting talent, though? Of course I had to listen to the whole album.

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"Toridori" open up with, you guessed it; an instrumental intro. I swear it's the new thing. It's pretty cool, though. "Get Up!" is the first real song, and ohhhhh boy. This is a great song! It's so hard, there's so much energy flowing through every piece of this song. The chorus melody is fantastic as well. "Sayounara Atashi" has a great jazzy, driving bassline. Track four is the perfect single "Asamade Sugar Me" which I mentioned above. I love everything about this song. All of it. Seiko Oomori's backing vocals sound incredible here, and it has the best chorus on the album hands-down.

Asamada Sugar Me MV (short version)

"Crying" begins a short break from the energy, a softer song with a little bit of a dark side. "Don't Be Love" is a lovely symphonic rock piece with an overlying cloud of malice. It sounds like something out of a western, maybe.

Another high point on the album is "Spider Trap", which features some flamenco influence and a Spanish flair in the melody. The strings sound great on this one. It's a bit of a darkly romantic song, it fits the theme of "this could be in a western". Not like a spaghetti western, but more like El Mariachi. Chunks of this album could easily score a Robert Rodriguez movie.

A few more songs I like before the end: "Rolling Rolling" is super high in energy, "Tokubetsuna Hito" and "Bane no uta" have some pretty nice melodies (and the latter has great backing vocals as well).

The closing song here is "Haru no Yakusoku", and it's pretty good. It's not blowing my mind or anything; the second half of this album has been pretty hit-or-miss for me.

It's a nice song, it sounds like a closer, I'm just not SUPER into it or anything. It's not bad! Overall, that's the album; not bad. The first half is full of powerful and energetic songs I love, the second half has some darkly romantic symphonic pieces I love. Everything in between feels like filler, though. Shout out to "Asamade Sugar Me" for being the song of the month hands-down, though. I love that one. I am into this album well enough; I'll keep listening to it for sure. Shishido Kavka still has a long career ahead of her, I'm sure she can keep putting out quality music.

-Justin

Toridori

1. Obertura
2. Get Up!
3. Sayounara Aatashi
4. Asamade Sugar Me
5. Crying
6. Don't Be Love
7. Ashita wo Narase
8. Spider Trap
9. Rolling Rolling
10. Tobuketuna Hito
11. Bane no uta
12. Saiteina Yoru no Ato
13. Haru no Yakusoku

Shishido Kavka

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