Kaya returns to his electronic roots with melancholic single Ophelia.
Last experimenting with traditional French music, known as chansons, Kaya has decided to return to his gothic-trance/neo-decadence roots after almost a year. His new release Ophelia consists of three tracks: Ophelia, Rose Kingdom and Ophelia (Kayaless ver.).
The title track, Ophelia, is composed by Hora and is reminiscent of Current by Schwarz Stein, but fortunately, it is not defined by it. THe song is based on the character from Shakespeare's Hamlet who famously drowns herself, and Kaya uses the theme of sadness and water. The song begins with the piano taking the lead, backed by an ominous pipe organ sound which quickly turns into an almost melancholic dance tune. Kaya's singing style is a little slow and soft, with short, powerful strikes creating a more morose mood. This is topped with hopeless lyrics such as “Ophelia sinks to despair/In overflowing feelings that slip by/Drowning amongst feigned love,” which reflects the mood of her death very well.
Rose Kingdom, composed by ex-Velvet Eden member Kalm, begins with some strings and a simple harpsichord tune before evolving into a faster paced electronic anthem that sounds like a royal Kaya march. Kaya's vocals are distorted differently at several points in the song, including the first verse, which may be unappealing to some listeners. Another concept song, this time based on Alice in Wonderland, Kaya sings of painting white roses red, a famous line by the Queen of Hearts. The lyrical content of the song is also much darker and more like something he might have written in his earlier days. With marching drums, dramatic synths and a quicker pace, this song is likely to become a popular live anthem like Rose Jail.
Ophelia (Kayaless ver.) is the instrumental version of Ophelia and allows the listener to listen to the music more closely. Without Kaya's vocals, it's still a great composition and should be listened to at least once.
Overall, this is probably Kaya's best major single. It shows that while it's good to see an artist experimenting with beautiful, upbeat chansons, it's also great to see Kaya drowning in his emotional, melancholic trance side with two great new tracks. Hopefully, Kaya will release a full length album next, although it's unlikely Rose Kingdom will be included on it.
*Ophelia lyrics used here translated by Faith © 2009.
