1. Breath (2001):

Borrowing equally from Bjork’s Vespertine (who is mentioned by name in the film), and Brian Eno’s art-rock phase, Breath is an astoundingly diverse set of songs, especially considering the constraints of a film “soundtrack”. The ballads, like “Arabesque’ (above), feature gentle pinging electronics, and a hushed, whispery vocal performance by Salyu, equal parts relaxing and haunting. Her voice has that kind of gentle quality Bjork had in Vespertine, but much more austere and melancholic. It’s almost classical in how bright and sustained her vocals can be, but it never feels emotionally distant, or forced, as she’s more than willing to let you hear her heavy breaths, and lip smacks. The electronics are smothering and dream-poppy, with lowly mixed guitars slowly intertwining in the bottom of the song, but Salyu’s voice somehow manages to conquer the whole mix.

On tracks like “Kaifuku suru Kizu” she almost sounds like she’s giving a solo performance of Perotin over ambient synths. It sounds untouchable, and almost, religious in a sense, and yet somehow on the more art-rocky tracks like “Hikousen”, she manages to sound like a Fiona Apple-esque tigress, holding her own over saxophone bursts and heavily treated guitars. If anything can be said about Salyu, it’s that she knows how to work with her voice, molding it to every context while never losing the very low raspy tone that defines it.

The album settles into some more poppy numbers in the back half of the album, with The Bends sounding alt-rock numbers “Tobenai Tsubasa”, and “Kyoumei (Kuukyo na Ishi)”, all before finishing with the fucking massive “Glide”, the song used to devastating effect in the final act of the film. Backed by a piano and melted guitar lines, Salyu belts out lines like

I wanna be / I wanna be / I wanna be just like the sea just swaying in the water/ so to be at ease To be away from all, to be one, of everything

Lyrics Are In English*

It’s resignated, accepting the complex, and dark realities of growing up, much as the lead character of the film did, but it certainly doesn’t need the movie’s context to convey that. This album truly manages to transcend its position as a “soundtrack”, it’s a fully separable album of 9 somber pop gems. One which predicted great things for its two creators.