Rei- BLU [mini album review]

Who is this singer?! I was randomly picking albums to try and to be honest, when I saw Rei, I thought she was a singer I listened to before, but when I went through my collection, I realized it was Rie Fu that was on my mind and not this Rei. Names, they still sometimes confuse me. Well, anyways, Rei is a new kid on the block and her signature sound is classical guitar. You can instantly hear it in this mini album. She stayed in New York as a kid and learned classical guitar at the age of 4. Having brought up in the States during her childhood, you must be wondering how is her English? Well, it’s good. I’m pretty impressed actually, she sounds native! When BLACK BANANA started playing, I thought I was listening to a Western song. By the time this song ended, I had to remind myself it’s a Japanese singer. The clarity for the classical guitar is so good (that intro especially). This track sounded country-ish but it’s got these beats going on that keeps things kinda groovy.

Cinnamon Girl is one of my favorites. I love the overall melody, it’s so relaxing. If anything, this reminds me of moumoon’s older music. There’s less guitar here, it’s driven more by piano. My mama is similar to BLACK BANANA, it really gives me country vibe. I think she’s very much influenced by western musical style, judging from these sounds. Her vocal is actually quite good. Eutopia is another track that relies heavily on guitar melodies to drive it. I like her vocal here, it’s more gentle and some parts where she sort of whispered a little was nice. This track is fully Japanese. POMELO is an instrumental track solely dedicated to showcase her talents in guitar. Not bad! Long Way To Go kicked off with her crooning slowly in English lyrics ‘We are young/ and we are old/ we are free but we are controlled’, talk about ways to appeal! This sure got my attention. I was expecting it to be a ballad but once the guitar comes in, it picks up speed and transitions to a mid-tempo. She mixed some Japanese lyrics in this. My second favorite track and it ended pretty oddly too with distortions. There’s a somewhat nostalgic sound to this track. The closing track, bumble B is just another guitar instrumental less than a minute long.

Rating: 7.5/10
Standouts: BLACK BANANA, Cinnamon Girl, Long Way To Go, Eutopia

If anything, Rei is definitely on my watch list now. She pretty much established herself as a solid singer with a clear vision for what her musical style. This album is overflowing with talent! I take it that she played those guitars herself (I’m not sure but since she plays classical guitar by the age of 4, I assume she plays them in her own album).