Kalafina 5th album "far on the water"

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@Atlas Star You're forgetting Yami no Uta (though that arguably doesn't have a refrain).

My theory on why Kajiura doesn't write many lead parts for Keiko is because she can't write harmonies to her. At the range where she sounds the best (her low range), Wakana & Hikaru can't sing low enough to give enough support for it, especially with how much bass Keiko's voice has. As for high harmonies, I feel like they overpower her, especially with Hikaru. I may be alone on this, but I feel like I can hardly hear Keiko on Ongaku's chorus in lives because Hikaru is overpowering her. Same goes for Usumurasaki's bridge and Te to te's refrain. And Wakana in Kizuato and identify's verses aren't much better either, even though her voice is lighter than Hikaru's. Since Kajiura can't write good harmonies for Keiko, she opts not to write lead parts for her. Also, the aforementioned bass in her voice allows her to support Hikaru & Wakana well.

As for why we keep getting Wakana-lead songs over and over, I think it's simply because Kajiura loves Wakana's tragic voice.
 
Hikaru can always use her falsetto high harmony (like in Kizuato and fairytale) if Keiko's on lead. Her falsetto is actually quite light and akin to Yuriko Kaida's who can harmonize with Keiko without overpowering her, like in Nohara and Hitorigoto. I mean, if Kajiura can write a song like Nohara which is very comfortably and arguably Keiko's best song, then why not for Kalafina songs as well?
 
Hikaru can sing lower than Keiko, it's been proven a few times. And this would never happen, but what if Keiko sung in a higher voice such as the one in Alleluia and Wakana sung lower harmony? That would be interesting...
 
Wakana has sung lower harmoney before. She does it with Hikaru in love come down, and that's it. In FJ, she sings lower harmony in elemental. Wakana can, but her lower register is nowhere near as strong as Keiko or Hikaru's.
 
Seasonreaper said:
Didn't Kajiura say in an interview that she doesn't know/doesn't feel comfortable with how to write songs at Keiko's voice level?
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If Kajiura did say that, then I don't see why she wouldn't experiment. I know it may not be the best for single A-sides (it could risk losing sales), but an album song or B-side would be a perfect place to release some, and see how the reception is to it. Plus, we would get more Keiko songs, which I wouldn't complain about :ohoho:
 
Hikaru's voice now has no, quoting Kajiura here, "unique reverberation similar to that metallic pipes and woodwinds". Even ARIA live from 2009's Shinseiki Anisong is better than Mexico's because there Hikaru only fell off tune but didn't sound like shit, her voice texture was still okay. In Mexico she sounded like shit and fell off tune most time.

Yami no Uta has a refrain. The other Keiko-led song that arguably has no refrain is lapis.

issues with Ongaku's and Te to Te's higher harmony being louder than Keiko's melody only happen in live performances, not in cd version and mic volumes setup and/or mixing is most likely the problem with that so I don't see your point.

Kajiura is just lazy. She can compose songs with lower range melody lines just fine. See-Saw, Saeko Chiba, and FJYuuka songs are more than enough proof. Or as you've said, she just likes Wakana's voice too much even though now that I've heard bootlegs of their performances she's still not that good in performing live.

And 'they can sing just find it's just their songs are harder' excuse is just bullshit imo. The songs are theirs, they have performed the songs over and over again, they have sang the songs more than any other people, they've practiced and rehearsed the songs for who knows how many times already yet sometimes (if not most times) they still sound like shit. Pardon me for having my Keiko bias shown but even with her bronchitis she still sounds better live than Wakana and Hikaru so being sick or whatever is not really an excuse either. I used to really believe in their singing abilities but they keep letting me down, save for Keiko - then again sometimes I don't like how she sang some songs, even though she actually did hit the right notes.

tl;dr: Kalafina isn't the goddesses of singing as y'all (and I used to) believe.
 
^ I was talking about the live version when I referred to Ongaku and te to te. I would guess Kajiura takes the live version into account when she composes, at least for Kalafina.
 
ritardando said:
Kajiura is just lazy. She can compose songs with lower range melody lines just fine. See-Saw, Saeko Chiba, and FJYuuka songs are more than enough proof. Or as you've said, she just likes Wakana's voice too much.
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What a shame to find the truth the utahime has less lead songs is because composer does not like her voice enough to write new song based on it.

ritardando said:
I used to really believe in their singing abilities but they keep letting me down, save for Keiko - then again sometimes I don't like how she sang some songs, even though she actually did hit the right notes.
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I get your point. Sometimes Keiko puts too much unnecessary strengh and emotion to a live song, which makes it werid, like love come down, mune no yukue.
 
We honestly should hear more Keiko in B sides, Even if she doesn't lead all the time, something like Gloria would be cool. B sides are for experimentation. Hopefully good things will be coming since it's a new year.
 
I’m listening to the FOTW album on LP (at long last I finally got a record player LMAO) and … it doesn’t sound SUPERB! Any audiophiles have comments on the LP quality from kalafina’s discography?

I got a better kick out of listening to SPICE by Spice Girls than FOTW…

Edit: it just sounds so flat and boring … I don’t hear much depth in the tracks at all.
 
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Sadly can't share my thoughts. I'm not an analog enthusiast.

Edit:
The digital hirez version doesn't sound interesting to me so I figure the analog might be similar.
Also realized I don't remember half the songs. Not even ring your bell. lol.
 
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grunty said:
Sadly can't share my thoughts. I'm not an analog enthusiast.

Edit:
The digital hirez version doesn't sound interesting to me so I figure the analog might be similar.
Also realized I don't remember half the songs. Not even ring your bell. lol.
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Boo…… what a disappointment. I felt the same a few years back when I listened to seventh heaven CD on some really nice speakers, I was like eh? Was expecting more.
 
v( '')v

To me Seventh Heaven hirez sounds very decent. Aside from maybe sprinter.

Edit:
Skipping through those albums, I'd say to me the first 3 albums' hirez versions seem perfectly fine for the most part.
Then Consolation is a bit of a mixed bag and far on the water is nothing interesting (and amusingly the singles sound the worst to me, aside from maybe heavenly blue which is ok lol). Also I don't think much of my opinion has anything to do with them being hirez or not (except maybe dynamic range compression), just the way they're mixed.

With that said, I'm not an audiophile by any means. :)
 
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grunty said:
v( '')v

To me Seventh Heaven hirez sounds very decent. Aside from maybe sprinter.

Edit:
Skipping through those albums, I'd say to me the first 3 albums' hirez versions seem perfectly fine for the most part.
Then Consolation is a bit of a mixed bag and far on the water is nothing interesting (and amusingly the singles sound the worst to me, aside from maybe heavenly blue which is ok lol). Also I don't think much of my opinion has anything to do with them being hirez or not (except maybe dynamic range compression), just the way they're mixed.

With that said, I'm not an audiophile by any means. :)
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Thanks grunty I appreciate your response! I know nothing about hirez lorez- total noob.
 
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