Tracks:

1. Melody

2. Kimi Nan da

3. Tashika na Mono

4. calling you

5. Seseragi

6. Tsunagu Mirai

7. STEP

8. DEEP BLUE

hands is Eri Nobuchika’s 1st mini-album and it was released on June 4th, 2009. It (most likely) failed to appear on the Oricon Weekly Charts.

It’s been a while Nobuchika! opening her first release in about 4 years is Melody. I was quite taken by this acoustic ballad, with the gorgeous strings and calming acoustic guitar, and I’m so glad that the hiatus hasn’t affected Nobuchika’s voice.

As for Kimi Nan da, she takes a sort of jazzy route. I think this type of song is more suiting for her type of voice (which still sounds amazing, might I add. ♥) I loved the prominent use of piano in this song, which is almost the only melody providing instrument in the song, but there’s also some drums to add a bit if flavour. I really liked this song and I thought it was extremely infectious.

Tashika na Mono slows things down a bit, while still adding an infectious, almost R&B-style beat. The chorus is pretty uplifting, despite the verses sounding sort of melancholy. Nobuchika’s vocals still sound nice and she uses more of her chest voice for the bridge, which is nice.

I kind of thought calling you sounded more like normal Nobuchika. It uses a weird twisting beat that is constant and never lets up. Again, there’s a prominent use of piano and it’s almost the only melody-providing instrument, with a little acoustic guitar thrown in. So far, this is the most versatile song on the album.

Seseragi also provides a little differentiation with it’s country-styled guitar. I didn’t really like this song and I got bored of it after the first minute or so, since it doesn’t really go anywhere from there on.

Then, Tsunagu Mirai comes in and lifts your spirits! Nobuchika’s vocals sound almost angelic-like during the chorus and it’s reallu uplifting. I love the use of tambourine during the chorus and the single-violin sounds wonderful.

Now add a little flavor with STEP. THIS definitely sounds like the old Eri Nobuchika we all know and love. It uses the same kind of Spanish guitar like in her 2nd single, Voice. It also uses a clapping beat as it’s main rhythm. I’m glad she decided to throw in a spicier song in the mix, because despite all those years she still can pull it off!

I thought STEP would’ve been a better ender than DEEP BLUE, but this song is still gorgeous. It kind of combines all the elements of each song into one neat package. But I thought overall, it was kind of a campy ending and I didn’t really like the chorus since there’s some unneeded harmonization going on.

First things first, I’m glad Eri Nobuchika is back. It’s been so long since her debut album, nobuchikaeri. While I was excited about her releasing new stuff, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Mainly because she’s on an otherwise unknown label, so there goes Shinichi Osawa and that AWESOME electro. Also, since it’s been almost 5 years I wasn’t sure if her voice was to be what it was on her debut. Boy was I wrong. While Nobuchika played it a little safe with this new release, I thought it was a good thing to put out as a debut under a new label. I’m just hoping for a little more… I dunno… oomph for her future releases (if there are any.)

Overall Grade: