Album Review: Shalom – mink
December 14th, 2008
I’m a hopeless romantic. I’m more or less a person who has a double personality. I’d keep an image of myself for my friends and family, but I have a totally different persona when I’m within my little box. I know it sounds lame but I’m the red roses, candles, soothing music, aromatherapy and poems type of guy…secretly. I mean if people ask my friends what type of person I am, instead of being called “a steak and potatoes kinda guy”, they would say “oh he’s a red roses, candles kinda guy” and I’d look like such a bloody wanker.
I have a HUGE affinity for love ballads, mainly by female vocalists. The softness of their voices and them using song as a vehicle to express their hearts is a beautiful combination which cannot be surpassed. Hikki, ayaka, Namie, Ayu, aiko, chatmonchy, Momusu Sakuragumi are just only some artists who have created/sung ballads which have melted our hearts over and over again. Even listening to words that I cannot understand, I’m still in love. I look up the translation which only makes it worse which ends by me want to tear out my heart to stop it beating so fast. My heart sways extremely quickly with these sorts of ballads and I’m slightly embarrassed about having such an attraction to them since well, I am a guy.
Mink is a female Korean vocalist who sings in Japanese. The words “Made in Korea” are abbreviated into “mink”. She only sings in Japanese despite her Korean heritage which I find pretty distinctive since artists with Korean descent who sing in Japanese usually would have a Korean release of some sort, like Younha for example. To add to this distinctive trait of hers, her voice is what defines who she is. Her voice is nothing like I’ve heard before. She generally sings in a breathy and quiet tone but she kinda of fools you, since you’d expect the whole song to be soothing and quiet, but she can pull of spectacular notes with impeccable precision. Her change in vocal quality gives a feeling like she’s like a cocoon when she’s singing in her breathy and quiet voice, struggling to vocalise her thoughts and emotions. She realises that she can’t take it anymore which then slowly crescendos into an eruption from her shell and she releases into a butterfly with her emotions released in the air with every flap of her wings.
Her 1st full-length album entitled Shalom is well, full of ballads. Given, she is a solo vocalist and I wouldn’t expect her to sing some headbashing testosterone flooded rock song, so her repertoire of genres is quite limited. But if you are able to manage the monotonous downpour of ballads without trying to shove a screwdriver through the back of your head, then you’re in for a treat. While her ballads are soothing and relaxing, it also feels like she is offering her a piece of what she is feeling through the song, whether it may be the hardship she is going through or the eternal bond she has with her lover. While the songs on Shalom may not be as raw as let’s say, “Renai Spirits” from chatmonchy, they’re definitely not fabricated feelings. In Renai Spirits, Ecchan starts of soft but then will pour her heart out at you after that initial introduction to “put you in the mood” in what she wants to say to you while she sobs on your shoulder. But with mink, she seems to be as I said before, in a cocoon, waiting for until she can’t take it anymore shown by the consistent heaviness in her voice until she breaks out and then lets it all out, compare that to Ecchan where she just says, “Fuck it, you’re having it face first whether you like it or not, I gave you a warning at the start.”
‘Like There Is No Tomorrow’ is a beautiful ballad but it fills all the descriptions to what I’ve said. She starts of heavy, breathy and quiet but slowly cracks are shown in her shell until she releases herself from her cage of concealed feelings. I just love how she finishes of the second to last ‘tomorrow’ with great flair and power, a complete contrast to the first few minutes of the song.
While the majority of the songs on Shalom are ballads, there are some nice upbeat ones which refresh the listener before he/she starts sobbing their eyes out again. ‘Secret garden’ is a treat as it is an upbeat song from the mountain of ballads. It has the essence of acoustic guitars being the lead accompaniment which is a nice change from being used as a base for mink’s ballads. The rhythm throughout the song is nice and catchy, perfect for summer afternoons with a beer in hand.
While the ballads are spectacular, there is a problem with the amount of ballads in ‘Shalom’. It does get a bit tiresome after a while, plus there are no extra instruments to capture the listeners’ attention as the ballad progresses. Everything is given to you on a silver platter to begin which is well, boring. Strings, percussion, acoustic guitar are shown to you within the first 30 seconds which leaves the listener waiting in anticipation for something special except for the increase in volume in both the vocalist and the instruments as the song begins to have more substance.
Mink puts another perspective on female vocalists trying to make their mark. Her breathy voice is presented well in all her all tracks on ‘Shalom’ which is her selling point. While “driving a screwdriver through your head” is a bit over exaggerated, the listener may well find getting quite frustrated at the lack of variety through the album.
Tags: mink
Posted in Album Review | Comments (Comments)