Take it All in (Album)

Take it All in is the first studio EP and debut from Urania's Mirror, releasing internationally 2021, with its first single, Genki Sunshine. In 2022 there is expected to be a special Japanese release of all the songs, and a bonus song. The album has 3 main singles, "Genki Sunshine", "Diamond Star Dance", & "Run away Runaway". The title of the album "Take it All in" is named after the first song Marianne wrote for the group back in 2019, and quotes "really shows the first album for what it is, a new sound. We want you to take it all in."

Background
The title of the album is named after the first official Urania's Mirror song, "Take it all in", written and composed by the group's founder, Marianne C.E Chaventré, her first attempt at writing an "Japanese idol" sounding song. Marianne's songwriting background lies in country and folk, with influences from anime openings and current and past pop music throughout the decades. Take it all in, the song, was almost scrapped, as Marianne didn't think it lived up to the excitement of the other songs on the album, but the title and the warm feeling behind the song was well received by the majority of the members of the group, and was re-worked. Various songs from the album were played acoustically in public cafés and events before and after the UK lockdown.

The initial date for release was going to be summer of 2020, as recording sessions for the album started in March 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and most of the members couldn't meet up for practices or to record, as London's lockdown was extremely strict. Only two songs were fully recorded as of March 2021, which set back a lot of progress for the group.

Take it all in is essentially a demo EP for record labels and managers in London, which is why it's such a short album, consisting of only 6 songs.

CD

 * 1) Genki Sunshine
 * 2) Diamond Star Dance
 * 3) Run away Runaway
 * 4) Show me Show me
 * 5) Angel Cake
 * 6) Take it all in

Themes and inspiration
Marianne started working on the debut album in October of 2019, when Cleo and Lucy had persuaded her to finally restart her group idea from 2017, Urania's Mirror. Marianne had been writing various songs for years with varying themes and stories for several years since she was 10, writing songs for people in her summer camp, youth groups, school and people she met online. Most people in the group would describe Take it All In as a captivating diary of the progress of Urania's Mirror, from Take it all In, to Diamond Star Dance, featuring coming of age experiences such as loss of friendship, love, gratitude, first experiences and teenage angst, wrapped up in one bubblegum pop / idol present.

Development and music
Sarina wrote the first track "Genki Sunshine" in 2017 for an online idol group who disbanded. She brought back the rights for the song, and wrote the lyrics based on the story of her favourite anime, Love Live School Idol Project. The story is about the idol group's leader, Honoka, sung by Umi, or about showing appreciation for a friend when they're at their lowest and showing how much they inspire you. In the comics, it's the first song the group all wrote together for Rikku, showing their appreciation for her.

"Diamond Star Dance", the follow-up single, was written and composed by duo Marianne and Lucy. With Lucy's enchanting ability to create haunting piano melodies and Marianne's dramatic ideas for lyrics, bridges and mid-lates, Urania's Mirror are excited to present Diamond Star Dance to the world, made possible by Sarina's expert level arranging. The song is about a dwindling friendship and love between close friends, and how the protagonist is stuck in limbo, not knowing what to do while they tear apart in agony remembering the times they spent dancing under a diamond sky. While it has the most magical harmonies and heart-wrenching lyrics, the song will be cut down to 3 minutes in length, as opposed to the original, which is almost 6 minutes in length for radio play.

Written and composed by Lucy, Marianne and Sarina, "Run away Runaway" is a big band jazz styled song about getting over a partner you knew was bad for you and never truly loved you. This song is a fantasy in the mind of someone initially wanting to take action against that person and their new love interest in a harmful way, but the protagonist later realises that the best revenge is to love yourself instead of putting yourself through more pain. The song was originally a throw-away warm up Lucy played on piano, but Marianne developed it into a full song on guitar and bass, writing the lyrics to go along with it. Sarina and Lucy developed the song with lyric swaps and a full arrangement. Arguably, this was the hardest song to finish, with differences of ideas.

Recording
Recordings started in early March 2020 in one house, before all members got their own personal recording spaces. The first single, Genki Sunshine, was recorded on audacity with limited takes. Take it all in was partly recorded in September 2020, before the group took a recording break. Diamond Star Dance was recorded April - July 2021, on Logic Pro. Future recordings will possibly be recorded on higher quality microphones.

Personnel
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Live performances
Diamond Star Dance was first performed by Marianne C.E Chaventré at Chickenshed Theatre on June 1st 2021 with its full arrangement with Lucy, Sabrina and Nao singing in the backing track. It was a shortened version of the song, and the song was met with great reception and audience participation.

Show me Show me was performed in early 2020 acoustically by Marianne C.E Chaventré in an open mic event.

Various unreleased Urania's Mirror songs were also performed by Marianne C.E Chaventré in various open mics, from 2017 - 2021.

Videos
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Hidden messages
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Booklet
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Audio
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Trivia

 * This album features 3 writers and composers, Marianne C.E Chaventré, Lucy R & Sarina Aria Elysia.