Top Ten Songs by Collide
(10) Razor Sharp (album: Chasing the Ghost)
kaRIN’s voice echoes like a sultry whisper in this song; sometimes it’s hard to understand what she’s saying because the song is so soft and mellow. I like this song because it sounds like kaRIN’s vocals become one with Statik’s music. The two intertwine so seamlessly throughout the song that it is no wonder they named themselves Collide, because the “collision” works for them.
(9) Wings of Steel (album: Chasing the Ghost)
This song is slow and melodic. It has very cool rhythms, and it has grinding electronic digitally-enhanced music (Statik) which acts as the backdrop to kaRIN’s soft and haunting vocals. I especially love when she says “Chasing wings of steel,” because every word seems to explode into an echo and then fade away.
(8) Violet’s Dance (album: Beneath the Skin)
This song has some of my favorite lyrics. I really love the words to this song, and of course kaRIN’s voice, which sounds extra eerie and far away in this song. She sings, “altered focus my sheer transparent one / running on the surface colliding with the sun / echoing subconscious sure to wake no one.” It’s just really beautiful. And the music gets louder and faster, and it sounds like it’s about to overtake the song; it’s very original, not many songs out there sound like this.
(7) Like You Want to Believe (album: Chasing the Ghost)
This song plays like a chant. kaRIN’s voice is very rhythmic and I like when she repeats “micro-ecstatic, auto-erotic” because it sounds very robotic and industrial. The lyrics to this song are awesome too; I particularly like when kaRIN says, “You shouldn’t treat me like a stranger / Like you want to believe.” The whole song really does sound like a tribal chant, very eerie and soothing.
(6) Pandora’s Box (album: Beneath the Skin)
This song is really slow and haunting. The music and kaRIN’s breathy vocals make this song sound like it would be good on a horror movie soundtrack. It’s a pretty long song, but it’s got that awesome misty quality to the music, and kaRIN makes the vocals sound like she and the music are one and the same. This song is like a scary lullaby.
(5) So Long (album: Some Kind of Strange)
This song is really about suffering. kaRIN asks “Why does it take so long / What if I wait for you? / Am I the only one?” Her voice overlaps onto itself, which can be attributed to Statik’s amazing musical production skills. I especially like the interlude in the middle where kaRIN slows down and raises her pitch to ask, “Am I not the only one / the only only only one?” She sounds tired, like she’s truly tired of waiting for someone.
(4) Euphoria (album: Some Kind of Strange)
This song was so good that Collide made a video for it, which can be seen on their MySpace. The song starts out with kaRIN’s soft and sensual vocals, but gets really rockin’ right in the middle. The music picks up and everything gets louder; the way everything fits together just sounds great. This song proves that Collide can really rock out.
(3) Halo (album: Chasing the Ghost)
This was the first song I ever heard from the band. It was playing on a friend’s webpage and, having never heard of the band before, I found their music and bought their albums immediately. This song is very dreamy; it’s often hard to hear kaRIN’s words, but she spins beautiful lyrics like “crimson cutlery” and when she croons “halo” repeatedly, it has the ethereal quality and really does make you think of angels.
(2) The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum (album: Vortex)
This is one of my favorite songs, not just by Collide but by any band or artist. Lunatics is one of the most uniquely arranged songs I’ve ever heard. The music is sheer genius; Statik weaves a tapestry of interwoven electronic sounds, and alters kaRIN’s voice, digitally echoing it into the music, so that it really gives the feeling of something disjointed or off center. There is also a unique rhythm to this song that almost makes it a little more dance-sounding than the band’s others.
(1) Dreamsleep (album: Chasing the Ghost)
Truly melodic, kaRIN’s vocals are superb in their eerie haunting quality. The beats are awesome also, and the song itself is very airy and has an echoing sound to it. I like the parts where kaRIN changes her voice to a whisper, because it sounds like she’s letting her listeners in on a secret. The lyrics are also very beautiful, especially the chorus, which asks, “Do you dream your dreams in color?”
All of Collide’s songs are sheer electronic and musical mastery. There isn’t one song by them that I’ve heard that I didn’t like. Go to their MySpace or their official website and check them out.
