Jacaranda starts out with a musical bang, building from a chanted ethnic sound à la
Mickey Hart until the group breaks into a full-fledged modern J-Pop anthem, jangly guitars leading the way into a forceful melody. The album starts to slow down after that breakthrough opening however -- not always going down in tempo, but going down in energy nonetheless. There's less force, less emotion in the vocals after a bit, more straightforward compositions with less innovation in the sounds. There's high-tempo driving pop in Atorie, more introspective guitar work in Nin Tori Aika, and an intriguing drumbeat in (gamma). However, the interesting bits are constantly buried under also-ran melodies and thick overproduction in the other songs. There's absolutely nothing controversial or off-putting about
Jacaranda, and it fits into the straightforward pop milieu of the modern Japanese charts, but that doesn't mean it's an interesting listen for newcomers. This one will likely stay pertinent only for
Tacica's existing fanbase.