This is not the Anoice of love and laughter this is an Anoice living in the shadow of destruction. The effect is unsettling, especially as radio transmissions and dark strings extend a very uncertain safety net. She seems to be asking, “Why?”, not caring who hears or what response they might provide. Bea’s operatic vocals, which appear in both the prologue and the finale, are a bit unhinged, stretching for consolation through lament and lifted prayer. Like its cover, the album is darkness and light, despair and hope, enigma and interpretation: a possible reflection of a nation emerging from its largest victimization in over half a century. The Black Rain screams concept album, but invites listeners to decipher the concept. Is this the black rain that fell after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the fallout from the 2011 reactor meltdown, a metaphor for the fears of an embattled nation? The video for “Finale” seems to imply the former, but while this suggests the title’s origin, it only hints at its current context. The blackness of night is countered by the glow of the full moon, miraculously visible despite the covering of clouds. The broken land in the foreground is balanced by stable architecture in the background: a tower, a steeple, a town. We see a weeping woman on a cliff, her tears mingling with the rain and the flood. Yoko Shinto’s cover illustration is incredibly beguiling: simultaneously dark and light, mysterious and accessible, a treasure trove of associations.
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