HY - Hearty

It's been two years since we saw a release from Okinawan group HY. Hearty is their most recent album to date, released in April of 2008. It still boasts the creative mixing of genres the group has always produced so well, but it also offers more ballads and classical areas, showing the band is continuing to move in a softer direction.

Sanpo ni ikou has a laid back pace with some unusual instruments giving it a distinctive feel - namely, trumpets and some type of organ. The alternating voices in the song lend it a sense of motion and change, and the chorus has a transcendental air in large part due to the guitar, and the beautiful soothing vocals certainly help. Mirai is another comforting number, the lovely vocals are complimented by soaring violins. Despite the beauty throughout it, the song lacks a catchy chorus, so it may be one that takes some time to grow on you.

One of the highlights of the album is the ballad Chiisana Yasashisa. Opening simply with a poignant harmonica, it continues quietly with just the vocals and lightly strumming guitar. Benjamin Benjamin is another strong number, a faster paced dance track with a playful piano, hard drums and a gorgeous refrain. If you’re a person who likes to listen to music while driving, you could buy Hearty for this track alone and be satisfied.

Track five, Cheaters, has a slight R&B flavor with its mellow rap sections. The keyboard synth motif in particular follows an engaging melody, and Izumi's vocals span a huge range in this song, often venturing lower than one might expect. Y&I is another ballad. It's a little long at nearly 8 minutes, and has a slow pace. Still, the vocals and melodies are lovely, accompanied by very light instruments.

The ballad is followed by a feel good rock song with prominent guitars - Nikai no oku no heya. It maintains a relaxed atmosphere and almost lazy pace, despite the sometimes heavy guitars. But HY surprises us in the all too brief bridge, which is faster and more moody. It might leave you wishing they’d embraced one sound or the other more fully. Track 8 is another rock-influenced number. 0453 is fairly fast paced and punctuated by guitars with a rocking attitude and contrastingly piano-induced pop and jazz flavor. It's another song that refuses to be boxed into a specific genre. The violins make a comeback with the succeeding ballad Deai. Starting simply and building to dramatic heights, the vocal melody lines are probably the best part.

Perhaps the best song on the album is track 10, Kono kotachi no tame ni, with its more traditional melody in the verse, the catchy chorus, and the beautiful guitars. All the elements follow great melodies and blend perfectly. Bi LO kana VE nasu eru is the other must-hear of the album with its enchanting Chinese stringed instrument. Though it starts softly, eventually the pace speeds up and a disco-like beat comes in, so what starts out to be a soft haunting tune becomes a fun dance number.

366 hi reintroduces Izumi's vocals, which have been conspicuously absent in the last two songs. A soulful ballad adorned with a soft piano and classy saxophone, the song maintains a very dramatic feeling throughout, matched by probably the most powerful vocal performance of the album. The final song is Aoi chikyuu, another ballad lovely in its own right and with a hint of rock flavor thanks to the guitar solo. The pace and strings build in the chorus, making for another dramatic and enchanting number.

In general, this album has a surprisingly classic feel, the ballad-esque softness emphasized more than the rock and hip-hop. Unfortunately, there were no samisen interludes, but the musical arrangements included a lot of variety. Most impressive was the singing: Hideyuki and Shun demonstrated an enormous talent beyond just rap and back-up vocals (only one song included rap vocals), and of course Izumi is still phenomenal. Whether you like this softer direction or not, Hearty is essentially still a very characteristic HY album, capitalizing on the three vocalist rotation, mixing of musical genres and producing music with a laid back, feel good sound.