Watashi Wa - The Love of Life

Album Title: The Love of Life
Album Artist: Watashi Wa

Track Listing:
1. All of Me (3:28)
2. At Its Finest (3:45)
3. The Air I Breathe (3:40)
4. With Love From Me To You (4:56)
5. Smoke Signals (4:21)
6. Joanna (2:37)
7. Everything (6:41)
8. Always Is A Place (2:47)
9. How She Sees (2:48)
10. Her Dress (2:44)
11. Clear (3:38)
12. Life Is Beautiful (7:42)

The Short and Sweet Review:

Watashi Wa's "The Love of Life" is a charming and encouraging pop album. This album has everything from full-on fast-paced pop-rock with happy guitar lines, to beautiful, slower moments of piano breaks. Top it all off with a hopeful voice singing lyrics that point toward something greater and you have a winner! Although a simple album in a sense, it's fun, faith-infused pop that's as much worth listening to for the music as for the lyrics. Definitely give this album a spin!

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5.
Recommended.

Album Highlights:
At Its Finest
With Love From Me To You
Joanna
Everything
Her Dress

The Long Winded Review:

One of my favorite pop-rock releases ever, "The Love of Life" was released on Tooth & Nail records in 2003. Watashi Wa, whose name roughly means "I am" or "As for me" in Japanese, was a young Christian pop-rock group that wrote fun, upbeat, and positive music. But it's not sappy or "104.1" (sorry, Fish!) by any means--this band's quality could let them easily stand up next to secular pop groups. The music isn't complex, in fact it's quite simple, but that doesn't make it bad by any means! Just not complicated. Simple is sometimes good, am I right?

Seth Alan Roberts' voice is a huge part of what gives this record the appeal it has, and despite the fact that he is sometimes a little hard to understand, his voice gives the album (as another review somewhere put it) its "sparkle and shimmer."

One reason I love this album is the positive (and even thought-provoking) lyrical content. Encouraging lyrics, words of hope and wisdom are found scattered about this record, introspective words like "I have learned that depression comes when our eyes are on ourselves" in At Its Finest, or heartfelt longing in Everything: "Lead me and teach me." To my ears, even with the strong Christian themes, Seth never comes across as preachy and never shoves anything down the listener's throat in this album--the album is far too friendly and relateable to be a turn off in any way.

SONG BY SONG:

The albums first track, All Of Me, is a very vocally driven track that sounds like Seth singing a pledge to stick to his faith and his relationship with Christ, to give Christ his all, despite hardships he may face. "I'll be the one, be the one they take//And I'll be the one they try to break//And I've just begun, just begun now//And I'm not a lot, but you can have all of me." Great lyrics!

At Its Finest begins with a crackling radio, and after a brief moment launches into a fast-paced guitar line, solid drums, and a throbbing bass line. The lyrics gently urge "to think things humbly//to lock up pride and throw away the key" and promise that things will work out for the better if we humble ourselves and put others ahead of ourselves. Again, great, great lyrics here. A really fun tune!

The Air I Breathe continues happily chugging along, and Seth sings out of a love that's "always, always found," one that he clearly wants the listener to be able to share in and experience. Again, it doesn't come across as preachy, but more like a good friend who wants to share something amazing.

Despite the title, With Love From Me To You sounds nothing like The Beatles' tune. This is a true song of love to another person. The chorus may seems sappy to some but here it is: "Come love, see the earth spin//Watch the colors collide, with hope at our side//All that is mine, with love from me to you." Maybe not a song that everyone will enjoy but one that's heartfelt, nonetheless.

Smoke Signals finds Seth observing that friendships sometimes are riddled with painful backstabbing, "...like a sport...", and he longs for freedom from it. Can't we all relate?

Joanna finds the singer nervous about dancing with a girl, apparently named Joanna, and playfully asks, "If I can't dance//Joanna would you understand?" A fun tune with a very simple chorus. One of those songs that you can sing to in minutes. :)

Everything is a gem, a slower song on the album, reflecting on the feelings of being called by something bigger. It ends with a break of about a minute and a half of simple piano. Very nice break in the album.

Always Is A Place finds Seth wanting to be one who's always there, "to know and always care," to "always have all ways." This song makes me think of 1 Corinthians 9, where Paul writes about being all things to all people.

How She Sees is more of a warning reprimand. It tells the story of a girl who simply wanted to see inside a church, a girl who "wanted just to see inside//she wanted just to know what's right//she wanted her life to be all right," but was instead rudely turned away by the people. Seth sings, "Remember Love that showed you life then show the same." What a statement. A good reminder for us, too.

Her Dress is a song about running from lust. "Her dress becomes my thoughts//my thoughts become a plot//her touch becomes my fate//can mercy find a way?" I think every guy has been here, and Seth sings for mercy to find him, and then says to the object of his desire, "Well I like you that way//but I will not stay." A relateable song that we can find encouragement and truth in.

The last two tracks, Clear and Life Is Beautiful slow down quite a bit.

Clear is a song of praise sung to God. "You're always here//Your touch is near//You're sound, so sound//You're always clear, so clear//Your voice is clear//You're sound, so sound." It's an encouraging song, and one of the most thought-provoking lyrics in the song?: "All this pain//Such lessons in such pain//Such hope in so much pain//How can I call this pain?" An amazing perspective, one that we don't always find ourselves seeing from.

Life Is Beautiful is a great closing track, and this one, like Everything, ends with a wonderful piano break.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

It may sound sappy, but this album seems full of exactly what the title refers to: Love. Inviting, friendly, honest love, pointing towards something greater. A very encouraging album, full of fun tunes. Give this wonderful gem a spin if you can get a hold of it--definitely worth your time.


Links:
Watashi Wa on Myspace
Seth Alan Roberts' new project, Lakes
Lakes on Myspace