hinaco – Kaerimichi Diary June 20, 2011

Track Listing

1. Kaerimichi Diary
2. Ameagari
3. Nakigao Smile (unplugged)
4. Kaerimichi Diary (instrumental)
5. Ameagari (instrumental)

1. Kaerimichi Diary

I really liked the fairytale kind of feel I got from the opening of the A-side here for sure.  Once hinaco comes in singing, it becomes a lot stronger of a mid-tempo ballad and her voice really sounds radiant in this song so it works for me.  I think it might be a song I’d stick to listening for a while.

2. Ameagari

For the B-side, Ameagari instantly reminded me of “Nakigao Smile” for sure since it’s laidback and relaxing of a song but is somewhat edgy (different kind of edgy).  It’s interesting of a song and hinaco’s deeper vocals fit perfectly well in this song.  OH yeah, it sounds like American pop/rock music so it’s different to my ears but it’s so gooood.

3. Nakigao Smile (unplugged)

Rounding out the tracks is an unplugged version of her debut A-side.  The only thing in arrangement alongside hinaco is just a piano playing the melody.  It’s a nice extra song, but I think I would’ve rather had a planetarium version of “Kaerimichi Diary”. 

 

 

hinaco really took her time releasing her 3rd single after “101 Nengo”.  Kaerimichi Diary is quite good almost to the point where it is her best A-side released yet.  As for Ameagari, it’s just as good too if not even better than the damn A-side.  I think the only thing that brought down the single was the unplugged take of Nakigao Smile since it took out a lot of what I liked bout the original.  Best single yet!!!

hinaco – 101 Nengo August 6, 2010

Track Listing

1. 101 Nengo
2. Boku no Hanashi, Kiitekureru?
3. 101 Nengo (planetarium version)

1. 101 Nengo

I see how hinaco makes her songs as strong as they can be.  101 Nengo is more of an upbeat song than her debut A-side, “Nakigao Smile”.  It’s good to hear her vocals are also straightforward so they sounds relatively good.  She should keep this kind of sound going and it does slighlty remind me of “Mangetsu Kirari” but this has a more rockish style to it.  I like this song quite a bit.

2. Boku no Hanashi, Kiitekureru?

I guess hinaco decided to keep this light rock sound going for the B-side as well.  I really love the fact that all her songs so far had this rather outer space kind of feeling going on (makes me thing her first full album will be set like this).  It is a ballad for all purposes but it’s not in the same league as “Nakigao Smile” since this still has guitar and the such.  That being said, it isn’t as flowing like her first A-side, but it’s nice otherwise.

3. 101 Nengo (planetarium version)

Just like the last single, it comes with a planetarium version of the A-side which is essentially a piano version of the A-side without vocals.  I wonder if hinaco is playing the piano or what, but it’s nice but remember the song is upbeat and the transition to a slower ballad-like take is a bit strange but really pretty otherwise. 

 

 

If hinaco keeps this up, I think she’ll have a pretty good debut album on her hands.  101 Nengo might be the opposite mood swing to “Nakigao Smile” but for the most part 101 Nengo is a much better A-side, but Boku no Hanashi, Kiitekureru? is not as good of a ballad as “Nakigao Smile”.  Still a pretty good single otherwise.

hinaco – Nakigao Smile June 3, 2010

Track Listing

1. Nakigao Smile
2. Mangetsu Kirari
3. Nakigao Smile (planetarium ver.)

1. Nakigao Smile

I don’t know about you but hinaco’s vocals remind me of Chihiro Onitsuka’s vocals for some reason.  She’s got that same throaty sound as her but under a more simplified arrangement.  I actually thought I was listening to a Disney song at first before the chorus comes in that reminds me of well more girl-fronted acoustic ballads.  Might not be the best ballad of the year, but it’s kind of good and her vocals is one that’ll take a little time to get used to.

2. Mangetsu Kirari

I was honestly not expecting something like this for a debut.  Mangetsu Kirari is definitely different from “Nakigao Smile” in the way that there’s a lot more synths involved in the arrangement and I ended up liking that a bit.  The chorus did take a pop/rock sound but keeping the rather interesting synth melody for the ride.  I actually that there was more effort in this track than her A-side!  Nice!

3. Nakigao Smile (planetarium ver.)

Basically, this is a piano instrumental with Nakigao Smile’s arrangement.  While I was surprised hinaco’s vocals weren’t present for this version, I thought it was a pretty way to end the single.  It’s also a little shorter than the original cut so that’s worth noting as well.

 

 

I can see hinaco getting some big songs in the future, her voice is actually quite nice, but it’s when she goes for those lower tones that things get a little sketchy.  Nakigao Smile is a bit plain ballad-wise but its B-side is definitely worth a listen.  Let’s see what she does next!