Contents
1. Chouwa~Oto~
2. Tsugi Au Toki wa
3. Say hi!!
4. The rule of the universe
5. Princess EHIME
6. Tenshi
7. Pinku no Zou
8. Hello passing days
9. Hana
10. Ningen tte sonna mono ne
11. Ashioto
12. Tomoni
13. a gift
Trip trip is KOKIA’s second album, and considered her best by many (although some argue with The VOICE and Remember me).
The album starts of with Chouwa~Oto~, an excellent choice in my opinion. This song starts off in a rather exotic tone, which is almost hypnotic. KOKIA’s voice flows with the gentle, almost fairy tale like sounds of the background. Just when you’re getting used to it, a bass sound enters and KOKIA suddenly starts summing up numbers: 3-25-15-21-23-1, ‘Cyouwa’. Next, you hear long ‘aaah’s (the word sounds sillier than when you listen to it) before she suddenly starts off in a more upbeat sound, with no recognizable words in it. She’s reversed the Japanese lyrics, and the result is very exotic and special. The first ’bridge’ (as I call it, lacking a better word) is a small, merry piece, also in reversed Japanese. The second ‘bridge’ has the ‘aaah’s from the beginning, only with more background music to it. The number of instruments and voices keeps increasing, until the last sentence, which is almost sung in a capella. I simply adore this song because of all its sudden and unexpected twists – you can’t predict what will happen next.
Tsugi Au Toki wa is a more relaxed song, and it has this feeling of ’leaning back into your chair and do nothing’ to me, especially in the beginning. The essence of the song, though, is more like ‘I want to be reborn as anything, as long as I can be in the same place as you’. Halfway, the song becomes more upbeat, and KOKIA’s voice rises. A nice twist in the relaxed song. Unlike most other songs, this song ends more upbeat than that it started off.
Say hi!! is mostly sung in English, and it’s mostly about the first couple of weeks of dating (that’s what I made out of it, anyway). It really gives off that merry, happy feeling like you can handle the world and nothing can beat you off your pink cloud. Funny detail: one of her four dogs, Donna, is mentioned in the song.
Next is the rule of the universe, which is completely English, as the title has already suggested. It gives off quite a ’strong’ feeling, although it starts off rather calmly. After she mentions the ‘mountain’, the tempo goes up and the song becomes ‘busier’. It becomes more powerful, to go with the lyrics to reach that top of the mountain. It’s a bit of overwhelming, but I’ve come to really appreciate this song.
In short about the next song: Princess EHIME scares the hell out of me, although it is quite something. There is a dreamy atmosphere going on in this song: you can vaguely hear KOKIA’s voice as if she’s calling you in a dream, and the feeling I get from the music and her voice is indeed like a dream. The kind of dream in which you realize you’re at the point of reaching, understanding something, but you can’t grasp it. I noticed KOKIA’s voice slowly flows from the right to the left in my boxes, cooperating to get the dreamy atmosphere. It’s a haunty song, but I can appreciate it.
The next song is not so chaotic and haunty: it’s Tenshi, which would translate as ‘Angel’. It starts of gently, but the refrain really ‘burst’ out of the speakers. I really, really like it because of this sudden change. It’s not like Chouwa~Oto~, completely unpredictable, but I think it has just the right mixture of softness and power. Go KOKIA!
Pinku no Zou is one odd, odd song. The title translates as ‘pink elephant’, and the lyrics basically tell how one has suddenly changed into, yes, a pink elephant and is having fun like that. It starts with a single beat (bom, pam-pam, pam or something like that) that is constantly repeated during the song and gives it an exotic feeling. When you listen closely, you can hear a low, almost Indian singing in the beginning, while the main voice sings rather high-pitched. The constantly repeated ‘pinku no zou, pao-n pao-n’ may either get on your nerves or amuse you greatly. The last thing applies to me. It’s a funny song, and it really grows onto you after a while.
Hello passing days has some English words, but is most certainly not completely English (unlike the other songs with English titles). It is an upbeat song, pretty merry and cute. It’s not as unpredictable or specially composed as other songs on the album, but that doesn’t matter – it’s just a nice little song.
Hana on the other hand switches atmospheres, like a lot of other songs on this album. It starts off as a bit of a regular, slow song, but suddenly, it turns all exotic in the refrain. I had a hard time defining it, but it sounds like Middle-Eastern a bit… and yet it doesn’t. Hard to describe, great to listen to.
The next song is Ningen tte sonna mono ne, which has quite some strength in the refrain. I totally adore this song, maybe mostly because I understood the essence of the song before I had ever looked up the translation of the lyrics. Getting through hardships, helping each other, forgiveness – ‘that’s the way people are’, as the title translates. That feeling got to me even without the words, so I admire KOKIA for this song.
Ashioto is quite a relaxing song, nothing too complicated or extreme. Just a nice song for a switch.
Next is Tomoni, which has again a more exotic feeling. It’s a bit like Hana when it comes to atmosphere. The bridge sounds a bit odd in my ears, like it was played with a wooden flute. That odd sound makes it my least favourite part of the song, which I rather like overall. The last phrase is constantly repeated, until suddenly, the last words are a capella and the song ends quite abruptly. Which isn’t a bad thing, but actually a nice surprise.
The final song of the album is a gift, which starts with a short voice message of KOKIA and is – or so I believe, since I can’t find the lyrics – completely sung in English. It’s actually the very first song of KOKIA I heard, since it was used for a commercial that aired in 2005 in Europe and also here, in the Netherlands. It’s a very calm song and it remains calm until the end. KOKIA’s long tones near the end, accompanied by the chorus, are very well done and soothing.
Well, as you can tell by the long descriptions of each song, I was surely dragged into trip trip. Maybe it’s because it was my first album of KOKIA, maybe because it has so many special songs on it. One great album by one great artist.
