CD Review :: Dew - PRESENT
Tracklist :
1) Present
2) Thank you
3) Wakaba (New Leaves)
4) Someday
5) My Special Day
6) Forget-me-not
7) Hoshi ni Negai wo (Wish On A Star)
8) Fragile
9) Hello my love
10) Night Wind (album mix)
11) Dear
12) From my heart (album version)
PRESENT is girl duo Dew's debut album which was released via major record label Victor Entertainment .
The album was initally released on 13th May this year at a limited low-priced of 2381yen & eventually it was re-released on 19th Aug at 2762yen .
The girls's 1st 3 singles & 2 B-sides made the cut in PRESENT .
Present is their debut single & what better way to start the album with this no. which shares the same title as their debut album .
Like most of their works , it's acoustic pop coupled with piano melodies & orchestra strings thrown in for good measures .
Considering that I never listen to Present prior to listening to PRESENT , I immediately warned up to their debut single as it's just so enchanting & nice .
Thank you is Dew's 3rd single & this was the song that got me in touch with their material .
Perhaps because of this , it's no surprises that I still like Thank you even up to now no matter how many times I gave this song a listen .
Wakaba (New Leaves) is the 1st album track you're able to find in PRESENT & in here , the girls have came up with a tune that's both light hearted & cheery .
You can feel how carefree they sound like in this easy listening piano driven no. if you ask me .
Someday is probably 1 of my fave album tracks simply because this song's sung in full English .
I was plesantly surprised when I heard Someday because this's the only full English tune in PRESENT & there're no butchering of any English words/prounication going on in here seeing that the girls were educated in Canada during their teens before returning back to Japan .
My Special Day is the duo's 2nd single & it basically follows the same music vein as Present & Thank you .
As a result , It took me a while before I was able to distinguish the girls's 1st 3 singles since they almost tend to sound the same as they're all piano driven tunes to a certain extent .
Forget-me-not is the album's 3rd track & this's a real charming tune . I thought it might be another full blown English tune just like Someday but I was wrong .
I like the usage of percussions in Forget-me-not too & it's 1 of the less piano emphasised tunes in PRESENT too .
Hoshi ni Negai wo (Wish On A Star) is the next album tune & such a nice ballad . It's piano driven coupled with beautiful strings .
Fragile is another light hearted no. which almost falls in the same vein as Wakaba in that both songs can be considered as cheery & warm hearted tunes .
Hello my love is the shortest track in PRESENT at 1:32 mins & it almost feels like a church choir inspired tune because of the vibes that Hello my love gave me .
Despite being the shortest track in the album , Hello my love is nice but I'm sure it had the potential to sound great should the girls decide to make a full version of Hello my love in the near future .
Night Wind is the B-side of the girls's debut single present & in here , it has been updated with an album mix .
Unfortunately because I never heard the single version of Night Wind , I have to assume this as a new song on my part but I have to say that I really like the album mix of Night Wind .
It's 1 of the more settled & slower tunes in PRESENT & with the backing up of a piano , you don't need to make any extra efforts to make Night Wind sound great .
Dear is the last album track & frankly I only find this song a standard piano fare delivered by the girls .
Like it was slotted in PRESENT for the sake of doing so .
Having said that , I really like the melody which has some gorgeous piano tinkling & also sweeping orchestra strings attached to Dear .
From my heart is the final track in PRESENT & this's the B-side of the duo's 2nd single My Special Day & just like Night Wind , it has been given an album spin .
Compared to the single version , the album version of From my heart is a lot more slower , acoustic & stripped down & not to mention longer .
Well regardless of which , I frankly like both takes of From my heart as I appericate the effort that the girls go into while trying to compose different melodies for the same song .
PRESENT overall I feel is a strong debut album offering released by Dew . The biggest gripe I find about this album is that a lot of the songs tend to sound the same as there's virtually little if not no room for experimentation/expansion when comes to music that lean towards the acoustic piano pop side .
As a result , as compared to other jpop albums I listened to , this took me a lot more time than usual but the eventual turn out for this turned out to be something worthwhile .
I hope the girls will be able to release something new in due time . I would welcome if they stepped out of their music comfort zone & be bold/daring in trying something that they have never done before .
