It’s rare that you hear a piece of music and struggle to put a finger on its genre or style, but when it does happen, you know it’s good. The new single by London-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Calista Kazuko is called ‘So Much Love’ and is an example of such a track. It’s a song of strong emotion and passion about feeling self-love in combination with being in love with another person. It’s unsurprising – yet still very impressive nonetheless – that Calista studied classical/jazz piano and composition and London’s Royal Academy of Music. She plays so confidently and boldly and manages to get the piano to match the amount of emotion coming from her voice at any time.
The fascinating thing about this song is the way it progressively builds and ends on a crescendo, but in a very subtle way that could almost go unnoticed. This is a very unique sound that Calista has achieved here. It starts so delicately, with her voice and piano playing off each other carefully and gently, with soft emotion. When the first chorus comes, the percussion gains some extra impact and becomes louder, and Calista’s singing becomes more powerful too as she sings lyrics of ‘I’m the queen of the world’. The second verse takes us back to the start with unique, understated drumbeats and peaceful vocals. Then when the second chorus drops, it’s as if we’ve gone up another level altogether, as the soundscape deepens and we hear more and more new sounds, more than we did in the first chorus. We hear angelic vocal harmonies complimenting the main lyrical lines, as well as some unusual, almost psychedelic sound effects towards the end as the song gracefully fades out.
I guess if we had to put a finger on it, ‘avant-garde’ is more than suitable. There are hints of Kate Bush in Calista’s music, but she definitely has her own unique style with her backing band delivering sometimes improvised jazz vibes, adding to the fluidity of Calista Kazuko’s sound.
Listen to this velvety, sophisticated song here: