Tracklist
1. NO IMAGE
2. Jasper
3. Yellow
4. STARs
5. Famiredo
6. dejavu
7. Samantha
8. +1
9. No Reason Why
10. Kagami yo Kagami
11. Hayaru Kimochi Teki My World
12. 1115
13. Humpty Dumpty

Kimura Kaela’s fourth album was released on April 2, 2008. It peaked at #3, currently selling over 150,000 copies.

For some reason, the entire Yellow single is included on the album. Well, I should be thankful that they didn’t include the b-side to Samantha. But if they’re going for b-sides, Jasper’s b-side would have been a good addition. dejavu and No Reason Why are pretty good, though, so I suppose it’s not the end of the world. Onto the new tracks.

The album’s namesake, +1, is a decent track. It starts off with Kaela’s voice slightly distorted with some really light synth. I like the chorus, but the rest of the song feels so painfully slow. Listening to the internal rhythm in the verses, I feel like the tempo should be like…twice as fast.

STARs is a pretty straightforward pop rock track. It has a few of Kaela’s trademark funky rhythms. Although the melodies aren’t really that memorable, it’s fun to listen to. And for some reason, it feels kind of long, even though it’s really not.

The intro to NO IMAGE is weird and strange and does nothing for the rest of the song. What an ironic way to open the album. I don’t really like this song that much, but it gets slightly better at the chorus when she’s not just singing against the bass beats. I guess it’s not a bad song, but it doesn’t live up to Scratch’s opening track, L.drunk (which I adore by the way).

The intro to Kagami yo Kagami sounds so familiar but I have no idea where it’s from. But it’s sounds really ominous, which is ironic because the first phrase she sings is “aishiteru” or “I love you.” I like the verse and chorus melodies for this song, but those guitar riffs backing it up sound so out of place against it.

Famiredo is a pretty solid track with a driving beat and a pretty catchy melody. It’s a lot better than a lot of her more recent stuff, which I guess is good but doesn’t say too much because I haven’t liked a lot of it. I do like this track though, and I think I could have the chorus stuck in my head all day.

Once Hayaru Kimochi Teki My World gets out the intro, I really like it. It’s really high energy with blaring guitar riffs and super loud percussion. The bridge is kind of weird, like it fits but it also feels out of place at the same time. But overall, it’s not bad.

1115 is one of my favorite new tracks. The chorus is really catchy, especially the repetition. The first verse feels really raw, but the rest of the verses are a less heavy. Plus the arrangement is really well done and the intro sounds great.

The album closes with Humpty Dumpty, a soft track that uses nursery-rhyme-like piano and ethereal synth. It sounds like a children’s song, but not not as much as Utada Hikuar’s Boku wa Kuma, because it still uses a pretty standard VCVC type format and even has as nice interlude in the middle.

+1 didn’t enjoy the success of Scratch and rightly so. I have to admit it’s hard to pull off a great album when there have been some mediocre singles but it is still very possible. I love Scratch and every time I hear more of Kaela’s music, I just unconsciously compare it to the track I love to much on Scratch. While there are some quality tracks on +1, there’s less of those than of mediocre song. Also, it would have been nice to see a few more softer songs or ballads, like Humpty Dumpty.

Buy this album: CD only | CD + DVD

Tracklist
1. Jasper
2. Dive Into Shallow
3. Jasper -Instrumental-
4. Dive Into Shallow -Instrumental-

Jasper is Kimura Kaela’s 11th single and was released on February 6, 2008. It peaked at #9 on the weekly charts and sold moderately well, currently around 40,000 copies.

Jasper is a fast paced funky song with a heavy bass beat. Kaela collaborated with Takkyu Ishino who usually works with techno. It’s really obvious with the electronica, the super heavy beat, and distorted vocals. The beat is relentless and while this track might be a good dancing song, it’s not that enjoyable to just listen to. Especially since seems to just have one melody repeated over and over and over again, which is kind of ironic because I already forgot how it goes.

The b-side is definitely the better track. It’s a pop-rock track with a pretty standard-type arrangement but with a bit of funky elements inserted as per usual Kaela. The verse and chorus melodies are both pretty good, especially the chorus which can get pretty catchy. My biggest complaint is that it’s very short, not even three minutes. And while I really like this song, there’s only so much it can redeem the single.

Buy this single: CD only | CD+DVD

Tracklist
1. Yellow
2. No Reason Why
3. Dejavu
4. Yellow -Instrumental-
5. No Reason Why - Instrumental-
6. Dejavu -Instrumental-

Yellow is Kimura Kaela’s 10th single and her first to have 2 b-sides. It was released on October 24, 2007 and debuted at#5 on the weekly Oricon charts (though it was #4 for a couple of days), selling almost 20,000 copies in the first week.

I was pretty disappointed with her previous single, but Yellow brings back exactly what I love about Kaela’s music. The rhythm is excellent and the hurried pace of the verses is pretty catchy. I really like the verse melody, especially where the vocals go up really high. The pre-chorus may be my favorite part, but I find that the chorus doesn’t match up to that same standard. The little repetition in the chorus is nice, though.

No Reason Why sounds like a typical pop-rock band song. It’s nothing really special, just a happy optimistic song. Thankfully it doesn’t sound as cheesy as it could have been. It is a bit repetitive, though, and unfortunately it makes the song sound longer than it really is.

Dejavu starts off with some nice heavy bass beat; despite that, it’s a bit slower than the previous tracks. I like the arrangement, though, the guitar parts are especially nice. The melody’s not particularly catchy, but the beat is rather infectious. I like the “Uh-oh!” parts in the chorus, but nothing else is too memorable.

Buy this single: CD only

Tracklist
1. Samantha
2. Honey B ~ Mitsubachi Dansu
3. Samantha -Instrumental-
4. Honey B ~ Mitsubachi Dansu -Instrumental-

Samantha is Kimura Kaela’s 9th single. It was released on July 18, 2007 and peaked at #8 on the Oricon weekly charts. It has currently sold about 23,000 copies. The a-side was influenced by Samantha of the 1960’s American sit-com, Bewitched. The PV also reflected this influence.

Samantha, by Kimura Kaela standards, starts off rather calmly. There’s a guitar part being constantly repeated and Kaela’s vocals are also pretty calm. The structure of this song is pretty different from the usual verse-chorus-verse-chorus set up. The first ‘chorus’ doesn’t come until the middle after the song, after the bridge. The chorus, while somewhat muted, doesn’t really go along with the verse. Though this kind of incompatibility usually works out well in her past works, it doesn’t cut it for me. While enjoyable, I can hardly remember it after listening.

The b-side, Honey B ~ Mitsubachi Dansu, is really sort of…cheesy. The music sounds synth pop-rock, a little heavier on the pop, while the English lyrics are just so silly. It’s stuff like “Hello! My friends! Yeah!” and “Hi! Five!” and I’m not sure I want to know was “Bun bun bun” is supposed to mean. Actually, the whole song kind of annoys me.

It’s also interesting to note that the cover art makes look Kaela tough and edgy, but the songs on the single are far from that. Samantha from Bewitched was also far from tough and edgy. Hm.

Buy this single: CD only

Tracklist
1. L.drunk
2. Magic Music
3. Snowdome
4. wani to kotori
5. dolphin
6. sweetie
7. kirin tan
8. Scratch
9. SWINGING LONDON
10. never land
11. TREE CLIMBERS
12. JOEY BOY
13. Ground Control Album Mix

The album starts off with L.drunk, an interesting song primarily using guitar and marimba (a xylophone of some sorts). It’s fast and fun, using repetition that only adds to its catchiness. I love the jumps in pitch in the chorus. A strong way to start off the album.

The things that makes Magic Music so addicting is its short, pronounced notes; not only is there rhythm with percussion, the vocals stress it even more. And the key change is done fabulously. As always, the lead guitar is great.

Snowdome slows done the pace a bit with softer guitar and vocals. The arrangement is really well done and the vocals are very good. However, this song doesn’t jump out to me after listening to the entire album.

wani to kotori starts with funky-sounding rhythms and counting, making you think that this is fast song; however, it’s another slower-paced song. I find this song more memorable than Snowdome because of its pronounced beats, interesting sound effects and chorus.

The beginning of dolphin reminds me of OLIVIA’s a little pain. Another ballad-like song, dolphin’s verses are soft and somewhat muted, giving it a darker feeling - the use of strings is great here. The chorus is very strong and much louder, and you can feel the emotion. There’s also a great electric guitar solo in the middle. dolphin is the strongest so far out of the three ballad-like songs.

sweetie continues the pattern of slower songs. It starts off with a fun electric guitar line; the arrangement in this one is simpler than her other songs’ arrangements, but it definitely works. I find the verse melody to be very sweet and the chorus is just as good.

kirin tan gets back into slighter faster songs with funky percussion. The verse melody is kind of strange; I can’t imagine many other artists doing something similar. But it’s catchy and the jumps in notes make this song stand out.

Scratch is a cool, funky interlude using drum set, piano, guitar, and electronics. It has a bit of a elevator music quality to it, with a jazz overtone. At the end, Kaela comes in with a few short vocal lines.

SWINGING LONDON starts off with a piano based melody. It’s slower paced song with English phrases inserted in. The bridge features a slight genre change that uses syncopation and a electric guitar/piano duet. Something kind of interesting (but I’m not sure if it actually means anything important to the song) is that Swinging London is phrase that alludes to the pop trends in the UK in the late 60’s. Hm…

A rock ballad of some sorts, never land’s verses have little instrumentation and short notes, while its chorus turn loud and vocals come become more emotionally charged. Never land also uses breaks really well. Near the end, Kaela goes up higher and ends perfectly.

TREE CLIMBERS is fast paced song with catchy English lyrics. The entire song is very fun and its use of repetition is great. The instrumentation buildup with its gradual layers adds to the catchiness and I often have this song stuck in my head.

JOEY BOY features some heavy electronic instrumentation. It’s another fun song with hyperness that you can feel through Kaela’s vocals. I’m not too fond of this song as it can become annoying.

The Album Mix of Ground Control adds in some extra ‘hey!’s, clapping, and few guitar riffs. It’s just as fun and addicting as the original, if not more. As per usual for Kaela, all English lyrics are fairly well pronouced and catchy. A good way to end the album.

Buy this album: CD only