October 5, 2004 by A.S. Van Dorston

Born in New York in 1983 to a musical family, Hikaro Utada recorded her first song at age 11, released an English-language album at 13 as Cubic U, and had already sold a million copies of her first Japanese-language album by 16. Exodus is Utada’s fifth album, and her voice belies her experience, if not her age, sounding remarkably confident and mature. Determined to break free of genre boundaries such as J-pop, Utada mixes Asian melodies with quirky electronica, and with vocal mannerisms considerably similar in sound and intensity to Kate Bush. You know she means it when she employed the production talents of Timbaland (on “Exodus’04”, “Let Me Give You My Love”, and “Wonder ‘Bout.”), and Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore on “Kremlin Dusk.”

Like Annie’s Anniemal, Exodus is incredibly consistent for a pop album. Of course, it’s not just any pop album. A student at Columbia University, Utada is no vapid sexdoll. She may tackle common lyrical themes like love, loss, dancing, and being the other woman, but she ties in references to Edgar Allan Poe. On “Let Me Give You My Love” she coos, “Can you and I start mixing gene pools / Eastern Western / get naughty multilingual / …don’t keep me waiting” Can’t you wait about five years for me, luv? The album is tied together with the repeated refrain, “I don’t wanna cross over between this genre and that genre / between you and I / is where I wanna cross over / across the line / I just wanna go further between here and there / grow wiser together you and I” in both “Opening” and “Crossover Interlude.” Given the album’s title, she seems to be suggesting that all of her listeners come with her and obliterate genres altogether. With the album getting more adventurous and challenging near the end, particularly with “Kremlin Dusk” and the brilliantly electronica-treated flute to a dizzying effect on “You Make Me Want To Be A Man,” there’s little doubt she’ll get what she wants someday.

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