“My Little Lover’s “LABYRINTH” CD single conveys sadness and emerging from the darkness and showing us the strength of Akko as a songwriter. “

GROUP: My Little Lover

CD SINGLE: Labyrinth

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-31389/B

RELEASED ON March 12, 2008

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

1. Labyrinth
2. sunday morning
3. Labyrinth (Instrumental)
4. sunday morning (Instrumental)

DVD: Region 2, 4:3, Duration: 4 minutes

1. Labyrinth (music video)

I am very fond when it comes to the music of My Little Lover and when we interviewed her in 2007 and pretty much confirmed on the inspirations of Akko’s lyrics, with the release of “Labyrinth”, I sensed sadness in her music.

With her divorce from My Little Lover producer and partner, Kobayashi Takashi, I often wondered what would happen to My Little Lover as a group.

Fortunately, Akko and My Little Lover has continued. Even continuing her musical collaboration with Kobayashi who was responsible for the music and arrangement of the main track “Labyrinth”.

Both “Labyrinth” and its coupling song “sunday morning” are rather sad tracks but showing how one can overcome the challenges and come out of the darkness to the light.

“Labyrinth” has a similar feel to their hit song “NOW & THEN” and another track which Kobayashi lends his musical talent on keyboards. The song has a beautiful arrangement as the piano and acoustic guitar play a major part of the song but it’s Akko’s vocals and the emotion you feel behind the words of the lyrics.

“sunday morning” is an electric guitar driven slow-tempo song which just feels sad when listening to the song.

I would think that when Akko wrote these songs, this was her expressing that part of her life at that time of the divorce. especially how the accompanying “Labyrinth” music video featured Akko stuck in her bed and not wanting to get up but eventually finding the strength to get out of bed and become the vibrant and happy person that she is.

Eventually, finding the will to get up and a depiction of a red string which usually connects two lovers, the red string connects her to a key and the key leads her directly to her diary.

Of course, the interpretation of the “Labyrinth” music video is my perspective on it, but this is how I interpreted it.

I also want to mention that when I watched Akko in this music video, she exhibited the beauty and spunkiness of how she was back in the mid-90’s with “Man & Woman” and looks incredible now as she did then.

The CD insert is a standard bi-fold with lyrics on one end and nothing on the other side but a metallic bluish, gray solid color. Included is a mini-flyer promoting My Little Lover’s Anniversary live at CC Lemon Hall.

With My Little Lover celebrating their upcoming anniversary live performance on May 1st at CC Lemon Hall which was in conjunction of the new album release of “Identity”, My Little Lover is definitely here to stay.

Akko has proven in 2007 that even if it’s just her, as a remaining member of My Little Lover, like Sakai Izumi continued with the bands name despite being more of a solo act, I think the same will continue with Akko and My Little Lover and the musical style that the group is known for, will still continue.

Both songs on this “Labyrinth” CD single emits the melancholy of things that may have transpired in Akko’s life but in the My Little Lover sense of beautifully created music is still present.

Akko does a great job as a songwriter and with her distinctive voice, My Little Lover fans can still feel at ease that she and My Little Lover will continue to produce great music.

Buy this CD Single

Labyrinth [CD+DVD]

My Little Lover

Mainichi Daily News reported, “Takeshi Kobayashi, the music producer behind the popular band Mr. Children, has divorced his wife Akko, his talent agency said on its Web site.”"Kobayashi, 48, got divorced on Tuesday — New Year’s Day — from Akko, 34, singer for My Little Lover, which is also produced by Kobayashi.”

More on this article

BAND: My Little Lover

CD SINGLE: dreamy success

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-31237

DURATION: 21:23

RELEASE DATE: August 22, 2007

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

1. dreamy success
2. jelly fish
3. kuchibiru
4. dreamy success (instrumental)
5. jelly fish (instrumental)

My Little Lover’s akko is back with her third CD single through avex trax titled “dreamy success”.

For those who are reading this and wondering if My Little Lover is a band, I guess you can say that it operates similar to the band ZARD. Which started out as a band but later became a solo artist (in ZARD’s case… Izumi Sakai), My Little Lover was a trio, then duo and now with the move to avex trax focuses on vocalist acco while husband, musician and producer T. Kobayashi focuses on ap bank projects, events and also producing other artists.

The last CD single “Afureru” brought T. Kobayashi back to producing and even participating in the music but in the latest CD single “dreamy success”, akko continues to work with different musicians and the latest CD single features three diverse tracks that don’t all incorporate the My Little Lover style of music but by no means does it mean its a bad thing.

The first track “dreamy success” is a catchy pop song which incorporates a MLL feel that is happy, fast-paced song which incorporates a heavy beat.

While “jelly fish” shows a bit of acco’s interest in incorporating more acoustic tracks to her music. And with akko interested in several American artists that do incorporate a country/rock/acoustic style feel to their music, it was nice to see a different type of song that she takes on and does well with. The song has a Jack Johnson acoustic feel but with a beat.

The third track “kuchibiru” is a slow ballad that incorporates a piano/acoustic/drum accompaniment. It’s a beautiful song that is very mature and hip lounge style of song.

All three songs are written by akko.

The CD insert comes with the lyrics to the music and an insert promoting My Little Lover’s winter acoustic tour.

I’ve grown up with My Little Lover’s music and learned to enjoy their style of music, may it be the style of past, or a style incorporating worldly instruments and beats to an electronic underground style of music.

For me, I have enjoyed My Little Lover’s music and how they are able to embrace musical styles worldwide and most of all, not afraid to experiment without any worry of offending fans used to a certain style of music of theirs.

“dreamy success” is a good single, definitely not among their best material to date but still an enjoyable CD single that manages to experiment with musical styles again but yet sounding so fresh and appealing that longtime listeners of the band won’t be disappointed.

With acco’s acoustic concert coming up in Winter 2007, it’s great to get a sample on this CD single of what she has in store for her live performance and I look forward to checking that out.