VOL.107 3rd album“Crystallize 〜君という光〜”

From music freak magazine Vol.107

GARNET CROW

New album《Crystallize 〜君という光〜》
Out November 12!

After a gap of about a year and a half, GARNET CROW's third album,《Crystallize 〜君という光〜》, is finally complete. While retaining their established worldview, the album offers colorful arrangements, polished lyrics, and even more expressive vocals, allowing listeners to fully appreciate their finely honed sonic world. GARNET CROW continues to break new ground as they search for an approach of their own. This time, we spoke with vocalist Yuri Nakamura and lyricist AZUKI Nana about the making of the album.

●This is your first album in about a year and a half. Did you begin working on it during the production period after your tour ended at the beginning of this year?

Yuri Nakamura (hereafter Nakamura): The songs gradually began to pile up from then on. Some were released as singles, while others were set aside for a while… It feels as though the album took shape once we had accumulated a certain number of songs. This time, we seemed to have quite a few good songs to choose from.

●Did you write a lot of songs?

Nakamura: Yes, including songs we wrote recently… About half of the songs this time were written over the past seven months, and the other half had already existed for some time but were songs we wanted to try producing now.

●It seems that some songs are still being produced. What is the situation there?

AZUKI Nana (hereafter AZUKI): As the album was nearing completion, we listened to the overall direction and replaced the two final songs that were still under consideration.

Nakamura: Once we could see the album's general shape and had settled on the title, we realized more concretely that we wanted one more song like this. It was the final fine-tuning, in a sense, and the finishing touch for the album as a whole.

●What will the album's track order be like?

Nakamura: That hasn't been decided for good either (laughs). We have a vague idea, and everyone will decide it together today. But every song is fighting for its place this time, so it may be difficult (laughs). Each song has such a strong personality and point of view that putting them all together is rather challenging.

●Each song on the album has a distinct personality. But just as AZUKI said in your last interview, I strongly felt again this time that once Nakamura sings a song, it becomes GARNET CROW's music.

Nakamura: I'm the one who sings, but the arrangements, lyrics, and guitar are also handled by the same regular members. So I feel the same way: once that person works on something, it becomes GARNET CROW. When the four of us make music together, it will inevitably have the GARNET CROW sound.

From music freak magazine Vol.107

●That becomes especially clear on your third album.

Nakamura: And through this process, we've gradually learned how to have fun with it. Because we trust one another, even if each of us takes a small risk, everything still comes together in the end.

●You are becoming more and more like a band. GARNET CROW's world also comes through very clearly in AZUKI's lyrics.

●Furui's arrangements also support Nakamura's vocals beautifully. The way they set off the lead singer has a very band-like quality.

Nakamura: That's the unspoken understanding between us (laughs).

●In your last interview, you said that recent recordings take quite a while to decide on the key and tempo. Listening to this album, I could certainly feel that the use of full voice and falsetto is distinctive.

Nakamura: Those details are genuinely very subtle, so we kept working on things like the key right up to the end this time. How does the modulation feel? What happens to the tone and resonance of the entire song once the lead vocal is added? If it sounds a little too hard, how should we handle it, and how should we arrange the harmony lines? We paid close attention to the effect of the voices themselves in almost every respect.

●Listening to these twelve songs, you can understand how the effect of those voices changes in very subtle ways.

Nakamura: Which parts feel better sung with the voice fully opened up, and which parts feel better in falsetto, varies according to the musical style and the shape of the melody. We spent quite a lot of time settling on those differences in the end.

●The falsetto in《君という光》and《今日の君と明日を待つ》is especially beautiful. Also, the album title《Crystallize 〜君という光〜》has a subtitle this time. Was that AZUKI's idea?

Nakamura:《君という光》is the single we most want people to hear, and putting it in the title also makes it easier to remember.

●The album as a whole feels very positive, as though you can see light shining through it. I get the same feeling from the lyrics…

●Even the sense of distance created by the word “you” seems closer, with a positive feeling that invites the listener to take part…

●Could that also be because you toured first, came into direct contact with your fans, and were influenced by that experience in your writing this time?

Nakamura: Even unconsciously, things are different after experiencing live shows than they are before. Knowing that people are always waiting for our music and then creating something is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Being able to see those people, as opposed to not seeing them, may really make some difference.

●In that sense, have the four of you gradually gained a greater sense of ease and confidence?

Nakamura: This time, we were able to concentrate fully on each song, and we had enough time to explore how far we could take ourselves. I fully digested each song before moving on, so I feel a strong sense of fulfillment and accomplishment from having made this work. We also had time to redo things, with some playful songs mixed in along the way. I could feel that we were taking it seriously while still leaving ourselves a little room to breathe.

●By this point, the four of you have established your own worldview.

Nakamura: We say it every time (laughs). We said the same thing about the previous album. This one has also left me wondering what we're going to do for the next album—I really have no idea anymore (laughs).

●The album as a whole forms the world of GARNET CROW. You really are musicians who are very good at making albums.

Nakamura: We included many different kinds of songs this time as well. Some are meant to be listened to carefully, some are meant to cheer people up a little, and some are songs we simply enjoyed making ourselves. Those are the pleasures that only an album can offer. We also feel that the overall balance came together very well.

●Okamoto's guitar also stands out much more than before.

Nakamura: Since he has performed live, he has become rockier. The vocals can't lose to that, either… (laughs).

●Furui has also brought something different back from his other activities. Would you say that he understands the key to GARNET CROW's music better than before?

Nakamura: Maybe so. Recently, when an arrangement comes together quickly, it really comes together quickly.

●On the other hand, several of AZUKI's lyrics this time invite the imagination from their titles alone, such as《泣けない夜も泣かない朝も》and《今日の君と明日を待つ》. Are there any other works with ideas hidden inside them?

Nakamura: The lyrics to《Endlesss Desire》secretly refer to film actresses.

●《Marionette Fantasia》has a touch of fantasy to it.

Nakamura: I wanted to create a fairy-tale world. It is full of fantasy, but it is a kind of fantasy that adults can enjoy too—like Grimm's fairy tales that adults can read as well, with a slightly poisonous edge. I was thinking about those things when the lyrics happened to fall perfectly into place. This is the kind of song that is easier to make as part of an album, so I hope everyone enjoys it.

●What about《逃れの町》?

Nakamura: We made that one toward the end of the recording process. At the time, we said, “We want one song that's a little more rock-oriented,” and that is how it was written. The decision came quite late, but in the end it became a tough, deep, richly colored song.

●It feels as though you had fun making every song.

Nakamura: We stayed focused while enjoying the process (laughs).

●It feels as though your ideas kept pouring out. Did the album have a creative concept from the beginning?

Nakamura: We gradually began to see the album's overall shape during the production process. We didn't establish a framework first and then begin. Instead, what accumulated naturally as we created became the album's theme over time. If you decide on the outer frame from the start, you end up limiting yourself, which makes it harder to write. So it wasn't until the songs were basically settled, the title had been decided, and we could see the whole picture that an album began to take shape. Before that, each song existed independently. In fact, it is only recently that we have been able to see it concretely as an album.

●Does making an album this way also mean that you have a lot of songs that don't get included?

Nakamura: Yes! Conversely,《今日の君と〜》and《Only Stay》were also songs that had existed since quite early on, but it was only this time that we finally produced and included them.

●Generally, if you leave a song sitting around for too long, its world can fall out of step with the times. Does that rarely happen with GARNET CROW's songs?

Nakamura: Yes. Rather than saying it rarely happens, I would say that, once we make them, they surprisingly tend to fit. Even if a piece of music seems too distinctive and you don't know what to do with it when you listen to it on its own, once the lyrics and arrangement are added and it is sung, you may find yourself thinking, “This is surprisingly good.” There are many things you simply cannot know until you make them. So it seems that we don't really end up with anything that doesn't fit.

●GARNET CROW has many songs you can keep listening to, seemingly untouched by whether they are in fashion or out of date.

●It occurred to me just now that there is no sense of the musicians' everyday lives in GARNET CROW's music. Yet when the music enters your own life, it feels natural and completely at home. That appeal is quite extraordinary.

Nakamura: We do want to avoid making ourselves seem like the central figures standing at the very front. The protagonist is always the song… Our own lives and the way a song becomes part of a listener's life are two different things. So more than anything, we want people to experience the world of the song itself.

●Finally, now that it is finished, what kind of album do you feel it is?

Nakamura: It really lives up to “Crystallize”—an album in which we have crystallized our sweat and tears… Though actually, there weren't any tears (laughs). In any case, it is the album on which we have given our greatest effort to date.

(Sai Saita)

Release Information

Cover in production

GARNET CROW's new album《Crystallize 〜君という光〜》will be released on November 12.
GIZA studio / GZCA-5038 / ¥3,059 (tax included)

1. 今日の君と明日を待つ
2. 君という光
3. スパイラル
4. 泣けない夜も 泣かない朝も
5. クリスタル・ゲージ
6. Marionette Fantasia
7. 永遠を駆け抜ける一瞬の僕ら
8. Endless Desire
9. 逃れの町
10. Only Stay
11. 恋することしか出来ないみたいに
12. 夢みたあとで -lightin' grooves True meaning of love mix-

※《永遠を駆け抜ける一瞬の僕ら》: TBS network's *Sunday Japon* (Sundays, 10:00–11:24).