URBAN ROMANTIC [Rie fu - 5th Album]

Tracklisting
1) Something In My Head
2) Sunny Days
3) Hey I’m Calling Up
4) Business
5) Anata wo Oboeta Afureru Namida
6) Romantic
7) drummy
8) She Can’t Say No ~no te ienai onna~
9) Money Will Love You (English Version)
10) Itsuka Kono Machi no Saki ni ~All The Way~
11) PRESENT
12) SUKI
13) Romantic (Strings Version)

URBAN ROMANTIC is Rie fu’s Fourth Japanese album; Fifth including her European album, Who is Rie fu? It was released on the 8th of April, 2009, and was preceeded by one single: Romantic. Her previous single, HOME, was omitted from the album, possibly due to the label swap.

The album starts in a very surprising way with Something In My Head, which has this retro 70s sound to it, with a bit of synth (!!) usage in it. It’s a large mix of drums, guitar and synths, and it kind of reminds me of her previous song Sunshine of my day apart from the obviously new synth usage. As such, I obviously love this song to bits, because the previous one was absolutely brilliant, too. It’s nice to hear Rie do a really upbeat “heavier” song, although the odd 8-bit ending with the explosion was WAY too strange… It’s nice to hear the English again, though.

YAY~ Sunny Days is practically Something In My Head, with a slower start and a more piano-based sound to it. I actually prefer the fragmented sound it has, and I think Rie sounds a bit better with this song vocally. It IS a bit short though… That was unfortunate, but I can let it slide. I’m actually not sure which I prefer out of these two songs though.

Hm… This is definitely strange. Hey I’m Calling Up still has the synth and drum usage, but this time it’s more mid-tempo without the retro vibe. It’s consistent, but it’s not a copy of another song, so I’m happy about that. It’s quite long at 5:29, which is good after two rather short tracks. I’m not as fond of it, but I do like it.

HELLO~ Business continues this trend in sounds, but it has a much more synthesized sound to it. It’s full of little synth beeps and background sounds, with a few instruments still audible in the background. I’d like to dub this now as the middle ground between the beginning of URBAN ROMANTIC and Romantic. Rie sounds fantastic vocally here, and I love the energy the song has. The way she chose to say business baffles me somewhat, but it’s not overly surprising, despite her English skills. This is DEFINITELY what I was wanting to hear from Rie after releasing Romantic. I’m very happy with the continuing synth sound. Just one thing… Rie, WHAT is with those lyrics referring to alcohol at the beginning of the song?

Next up is Anata wo Oboeta Afureru Namida, another piano plus synth song, but this time, the synth works as more of an ethereal backing to the guitar and piano in contrast to the front seat it’s been given so far, which I think works very well. It’s a nice song to listen to, and it isn’t slow enough to bore you. Definitely a nice addition to the album. And is it just me, or do I hear a bit of an influence from Romantic in the piano in the verses? You need to listen closely, so maybe it’s just me, but I can definitely hear it there.

HERE we go. The song that finally kick started my drive as a Rie fu fan after half a year of casual listening. Romantic is the perfect introduction to Rie and her synth experiments, and we have Taku Takahashi to largely thank for that. It has a classical feel to the repeating synths, and Rie sounds perfect against them, despite how horribly  her song would usually fit into a badly done synth song. What I love about the song is it’s obvious there’s some instrumental influence in there, but they mimed it with synth instead. I think… Anyway, this is definitely one of my favorite songs from Rie. I’d say it was the best song on the album instantly if Business hadn’t popped up.

drummy, however, is the first song to feature no synth on the album. There is a lot of percussion and brass, though, and I rather like how Rie’s talk-singing fits in the sections of this song where it pops up. It’s a nice jazzy, upbeat tune to slowly transition us back into the section of the album that features little to no synth. It was a nice ride while it lasted, but take this chance to start getting back into your old Rie frames of mind. Don’t ignore the song, however, it’s definitely worth a listen.

She Can’t Say No comes up next, and it has a rather off-key sounding piano opening it up and continuing throughoug the song, which starts off annoying but sounds a lot better when Rie starts singing and the rest of the instruments come in. This is a more acoustic pop song compared to the rest of the album, and I love how the bridge and chorus sound in particular in this song. There actually IS a bit of synth in this song backing it up, but it’s even less than any other song so far, so it’s nothing to write home about. The song itself isn’t either, but only for the fact that it’s only 2:33 in length. If it was longer, it’d be an instant favorite, but the short length does work against it.

Another flashback to Romantic comes in next, with the English version of Money Will Love You, the second b-side on the single. It sounds a LOT better in English, and I liked it from the beginning, so that’s definitely a good thing. Now that I know what the song’s about, the mellow sound for the song definitely fits better. The title doesn’t really fit in with the song lyrically though… If you think about it, it does kind of relate, but it does sound kind of random. The second half of this song is spectacular for an acoustic song, too.

Itsuka Kono Machi no Saki ni is a huge difference from the rest of the album. Do you want to know why? BECAUSE IT’S A FOLK SONG!! I was ecstatic to hear one of these slip into the album, and Rie sounds better here than she does with pop or synth songs. This is an instant favorite for me, but that’s mainly for my rather old love of folk music. (Who here actually knew about that though?)

…Hold up… Did Rie just say FUCK?! At about 46 seconds in, I could SWEAR she talks about couples fucking it up… That is VERY strange, if it’s true… Especially for a Rie song… Clarification please?

Uh oh, time to press the skip button. PRESENT is up next, and as you should all obviously know, this is a bore-fest. I can’t sit through this song AT ALL, and since I just reviewed it, I won’t say anything more about it here. Just go read the review for the single.

SUKI starts out as a simple pair of Rie singing with the acoustic guitar playing along with her. And… That’s all it is. It’s kind of similar to Money Will Love You without the extra background sounds; just the guitar and a few lighter beats. I like how it’s not all slow; it actually keeps itself at a mid-tempo range, which is nice to hear, but there isn’t much going on. It’s probably good for a few listens, but it sounds like a very hit-and-miss song.

Here’s an interesting way to finish the album: a Strings Version of the orgasmic Romantic. The song is a bit faster than its older counterpart, and it’s interesting to hear a piano playing to the songs tune, and it gets even better when the actual strings come in. I like how the song handles transitions, and… Well, I like the song. It’s not AS good as Romantic, but I’m very happy that they handled the transfer into this sound so well.

Overall Score
A

Favorite Songs
1) Business
2) Romantic
3) Sunny Days
4) Itsuka Kono Machi no Saki ni ~All The Way~
5) Anata wo Oboeta Afureru Namida

Well, aren’t I pleasantly surprised! I will admit, after PRESENT, my forecast for the album was certainly not a pleasant thing to read. However, after hearing the album itself, I am VERY happy to hear the synth sound was continued with the album. I’m also happy we got some folk music in there, but that’s another story. I can definitely see why the album was called URBAN ROMANTIC now. I wasn’t happy they moved from the ***** Album naming method, but you can hear many references to towns and cities in the English lyrics in the album, as well as a few song titles, so I think I can sense a bit of a theme in the album. Anyway, definitely a great album from Rie, and definitely her best to date. Highly recommended! (The swearing and alcoholic references are rather baffling though…)

PRESENT [Rie fu - 12th Single]

Tracklisting
1) PRESENT
2) Time Traffic (Rie fu mix)
3) Douyara Kyou mo Shibuya made (どうやら今日も渋谷まで; lit. I’ll be going to Shibuya (?)

PRESENT is the 12th single from Rie fu, and the final single in the URBAN ROMANTIC era. It was released on the 25th of February, 2009.

To be 100% blunt… I hate PRESENT. I always have. I always will. Maybe we can account it to being a bland piano ballad, maybe we can account it to being a horrible follow-up to the orgasmic romantic, but… Something about it just turns me off. It is heartfelt, it is pretty… But god DAMN, is it boring.

Now, the Time Traffic (Rie fu mix) is just… Confusing. Thankfully, it brings some synth back into the music, but there is some piano… Actually, it sounds NOTHING like a Rie fu song. We can, however, attribute that to this being a collaboration with Leo Imai, and I think it’s primarily his song. Honestly, the chorus is awful. I don’t like how it transitions from the verses at all, and this weirdly urban sound doesn’t really suit Rie fu, I think…

Closing the single is Douyara Kyou mo Shibuya made, which is classic Rie pop. It’s a bit more interesting than PRESENT was, although it was nowhere near as interesting (or is that weird?) as Time Traffic was. It’s nice to hear a callback to her old pop self, but… It’s a bit too QUIET.

Single Score
D

Favorite Track
Douyara Kyou mo Shibuya made

What a letdown… After Romantic, I can safely say that this is just crap. Hopefully URBAN ROMANTIC will be better (and we’ll soon find out, I’m literally reviewing that right now.)

Romantic [Rie fu - 11th Single]

Tracklisting
1. Romantic
2. In The Airplane
3. Money Will Love You

Romantic is Rie fu’s 11th overall single, and the second in her latest era. It reached #100 on the Oricon charts; two places lower than her previous single; and it was released on the 12th of November, 2008.

Romantic came as a real surprise to me and, as you can obviously tell, many of her fans. It was actually produced by one of the two members of m-flo, for starters, and it carries a distinct sound that differs greatly from her usual style. Romantic has an older style to its sound, with a heavy focus on synths and beats instead of Rie’s usual instruments. Amazingly, she still sounds great with this style of music, which I’m sure was a concern to quite a few fans when the song first started. While I do like the majority of the song, my favorite parts had to be the sections that introduced the piano, as it worked surprisingly well with the style of synth that they decided to use for the single, which is a good thing since it sticks in the background of the song for quite a while. I’d like to see more of this from Rie, as she pulled it off brilliantly for a first stab at such a different style of music. (Wow, this section was a lot longer than I intended it to be…)

The next track, In The Airplane, has a different sound to it as well, opening with some quite synths that give the quiet feeling of an airplane, before moving into a funkier arrangement that holds a few similarities to Romantic. The whole song sounds great, and once again Rie manages to adapt to the new sound, but something about it still makes it feel like a b-side. It’s good, but I prefer the overall sound that Romantic had.

And classic Rie fu comes in once again for the second b-side, Money Will Love You. It features a much more laid-back acoustic sound to it, and while Rie sounded great in the previous two tracks, she definitely sounds best with her trademark style. The song hasn’t got much to it, but I would definitely rank it up there with the previous two tracks: Not as good as Romantic, but preferable to In The Airplane.

Single Score
A-

Favorite Track
Romantic

It’s nice to hear Rie fu break away from her trademark style a little bit. It’s even nicer to see such great results, as Romantic ranks as one of my favorite songs from her at the moment. Every track on the single was good, but In The Airplane could have had a bit more to it to improve the overall sound that it had. Overall, a brilliant single.

Home [Rie fu - 10th Single]

Tracklisting
1. Home
2. Wait For Me
3. (They Long To Be) Close To You

Home is Rie fu’s 10th overall single, and the first in the era following Tobira Album. It was used as the theme for the movie “Koneko no Namida”, and reached #98 on the weekly Oricon charts. It was released on the 23rd of January, 2008.

Home sounds pretty similar to what you’d expect Rie fu to release. It’s a bright song, with a large focus on the piano and the drums. Rie’s vocals suit the style of music really well, which should be expected by now. Something about the track makes it come off as a bit underwhelming to me as I listen to it, though I’m not quite sure what. It’s a sweet song, but I wasn’t really pleased with it overall.

Wait For Me is a much simpler song compared to Home, with a heavy acoustic sound to it, with the echoing vocals and the use of the acoustic guitar and piano to make up the majority of the arrangement. It’s another song about love, but I feel that the bittersweet sound of the song with the acoustic arrangement convey the feeling in a much stronger way than the cheerful sound of Home did, despite both of them having somewhat different views on the subject. I prefer it to the a-side.

Closing the single is an extremely faithful cover of the famous The Carpenter’s song, (They Long To Be) Close To You. The song carries the same overall sound that the original had, which I thought was a nice touch, and Rie’s voice fits the sound of it well. It’s a largely piano-focused song, and honestly, I can’t remember whether that was a trademark of the original song or not (I only remember the overall sound it had), but I like the simple sound it gives the song. The addition of a choir of vocals at the end was great, too. Oddly enough, this is my favorite song off of the single.

Single Score
B

Favorite Track
(They Long To Be) Close To You

So, I’m not really a huge fan of this single. I just found it kind of underwhelming after hearing Tobira Album for some reason, but all of the tracks were at least good. I really liked her faithful rendition of the classic Carpenters song, though, and it was the real stand-out track, in my eyes. Call me crazy, but it’s true.

Quick Feature~

So, I just thought I’d make a quick post saying that I’m finally going to be featuring Rie Fu.

As I said I would be quite a long while ago. I’ll be starting with her single “Home”, and follow up with her latest single “Romantic”. Unless I decide to start from the Tobira Album era, I’m undecided so far.

So, yeah, look out for some reviews of her soon.

Don’t forget to check out my review of Britney Spears’ Circus album, and my write-up on Perfume.