VOL.120 Hitoshi Okamotosoloalbum“FF/REWIND”

From music freak magazine Vol.120

Hitoshi Okamoto interview

New album *FF/REWIND*
arrives November 17!

Hitoshi Okamoto, GARNET CROW's guitarist, returns with a solo album after a long interval. His new work, *FF/REWIND*, arrives two years and eight months after his debut album. The title means “fast-forward, rewind,” and comes from the idea that listeners should be able to enjoy it no matter where they begin. While retaining the pop sensibility of the previous album, this one places greater emphasis on a band sound and includes energetic songs that differ from the familiar image of his “home recordings.” That is not the extent of his appeal, however: the album also occasionally reveals a crisp, breezy side, and the style he calls “slightly awkward pop” is still very much present.

Between his first album and this new work, Okamoto took on a variety of activities outside GARNET CROW, including work as a support musician and composer. During GARNET CROW's tour this year, he sang the band's songs as a vocalist, and many listeners were captivated by his gentle voice—an image that remains vivid. Although he regards his solo work as something he does outside his main activities, Hitoshi Okamoto has unmistakably built a musical world of his own. We asked him about the album he had just completed. Be sure also to read the track-by-track notes written by Okamoto himself.

“I gave it everything I had. I spent solid, careful time on it right up to the very last moment...”

● More than two and a half years have passed since your previous album.

Hitoshi Okamoto (hereafter Okamoto): Maybe that is because I was not particularly concerned about when to release it. When a guitarist puts out a solo album, leaving a little time between releases seems kind of cool too... (laughs). It is probably a matter of bringing out what has built up inside me. Two years and eight months would be far too long if this were my regular activity, but since it is something I do outside my main work, I think the interval was about right.

● Were all the songs on this album accumulated with a solo work in mind?

Okamoto: When I wrote them, I did not have a particularly strong intention to use them myself. That may have been the case with “Autumn Sky,” “静寂の間に,” and “It's only love,” though. After my first album came out, I thought it was about time to write some more, and that was when I wrote “Autumn Sky.” At the same time, I was thinking about including a cover on the next album, and when I considered what to choose, “no matter what” was the first song that came to mind. So those two were completed at roughly the same time. I think all four of the songs I just mentioned were made within a year of the previous album's release.

● Did your approach to making music change after releasing your first album?

Okamoto: Once I had actually made one myself, I had a clearer sense of the boundary between “things I can do too” and “things I want to try but cannot do yet.” So when I made the next album, I wanted to use that understanding as a foundation and then try some new things.

● Did you include those things you wanted to try this time?

Okamoto: Yes. Wanting to record a cover was one of them. Also, as a guitarist, there are times when I feel that all you need is the sound of bass, drums, and guitar (laughs). There are quite a few songs like that this time.

● Your first album was fairly gentle, but this one also has some powerful songs. It feels as if you are expressing yourself more outwardly.

Okamoto: People always associate my work with the phrase “home recording,” but this time there is not a single song that immediately sounds like a home recording. Instead, I was imagining, “What if this were played by a band?” That is the kind of sound I wanted.

● Was everything recorded at home again this time?

Okamoto: Yes, it was one hundred percent home-recorded.

● It sounds nothing like that, which is surprising. Does it make you happier when people feel that way?

Okamoto: It is a little complicated... (laughs). My goal was the sound of real drums being played, but the result was assembled piece by piece at home, so I suppose that is not especially cool either.

● Did you have enough time to make the album? You have many other things to do besides GARNET CROW.

Okamoto: My time still gets broken up into little pieces. At first, I do not mind working that way, but as the deadline approaches, the interruptions themselves start to frustrate me (laughs). If I stop halfway through a piece of work, when I return to it I think, “What was I planning to do next?” If I do not write everything down, I feel as if I am going to forget it.

● Was the final stage of production difficult?

Okamoto: Yes, it was pretty tense (wry laugh). In fact, I was working until this morning. I only just settled on the final recorded version of the last song and sent the audio out. Nutritional drinks helped too (laughs). There were times when I got stuck this time, but at least the computer did not have any problems, which was a real relief. The hard drive failed once between the production of my previous album and this one. So while I was working, I kept thinking, “What if it breaks now?” and made sure to keep backing everything up.

● What do you mean when you say you got stuck?

Okamoto: Just the ordinary kind of bottleneck you run into while arranging. There was no song that I could not move forward at all.

● It must also be difficult to switch between your other work and your own music.

Okamoto: Everything is manageable except singing. Singing is the one thing that is really difficult... I have to get up a little earlier. Since I record at home, ideally I get up around eight in the morning and start singing at noon. But if I work until nearly dawn the day before, the whole cycle shifts back, and I do not start singing until four in the afternoon. Since I cannot disturb the neighbors, I have to stop around eight in the evening... When that happens, it is really depressing. I can make the instrumental parts at any time, so singing is the only part that makes switching difficult.

● When you made your first album, you said you felt embarrassed about singing. Is it the same this time?

Okamoto: I do not feel embarrassed anymore, but basically I do not like my own voice, so the theme has been how to face it. I am a little better at it than before, though.

● GARNET CROW concerts, THURSDAY LIVE, and other events have given you more chances to sing in front of people. Did that have an effect too?

Okamoto: Yes. After all, even a GARNET CROW concert DVD has been included (laughs). Perhaps part of it was deciding that I had no choice and making up my mind.

● What were you feeling when you decided to sing at a GARNET CROW concert?

Okamoto: “Seriously!?” But I was singing only one song, and it was a GARNET CROW song, so I thought the audience would accept it. I had sung at “OKAMOTO NIGHT” before too, so in that sense I felt reassured.

From music freak magazine Vol.120

● Still, singing in a large hall in front of so many people must have made you nervous.

Okamoto: The show was arranged so that I played a few songs first and did my singing in the middle, which made it easier. If I had had to sing right at the beginning, I probably could not have done it.

● Did Nakamura say anything after hearing your singing voice?

Okamoto: She said it was interesting because my way of singing was different from hers. Some of the other accompanying musicians even imitated the way I sing... (laughs).

● Have there been moments when singing felt comfortable?

Okamoto: At least during recording, I have never felt that way.

● This time you wrote lyrics in English. Did you treat the words as sounds, placing more importance on how they are pronounced and how they feel when extended than on their meaning?

Okamoto: That was part of it. There are vowels I am good at singing and vowels I am not good at... I am fairly comfortable with “o” and “a,” but “i” and “e” are difficult. When I hold a high note, I feel that I cannot sing it well. I also tend to sing somewhat indistinctly, so I sang over some parts again, hoping at least to make them clear enough for an ordinary listener to understand.

● AZUKI also wrote lyrics this time. Did you give her any requests about the content?

Okamoto: I made requests for “STRAY BEAST” on the previous album, but not this time.

● How did you feel when you saw the finished lyrics?

Okamoto: I felt that there was more English. In the demo, I had sung in English casually, so I could really feel that she had taken care of those sounds and treated them with respect.

● This album also includes a song you wrote for Hayami Kishimoto. When you sang it yourself, did you already know how you wanted to handle it?

Okamoto: I thought about changing it when I made my own version, but I hesitated for a while over what to do with the lyrics and how to change the sound. Kishimoto's version has a fairly dance-oriented sound, including the kick drum, so bringing it into my album unchanged would have felt out of place. I wanted to use ordinary real-drum samples, and that led to the arrangement it has now.

The lyrics could have been in Japanese, but a staff member said, “Why not keep the feeling of the English in the demo?” I said, “Sure. Could you ask someone to write them?” and the answer I got was, “Then write them yourself”... So I looked up a great many words and wrote them. I did not write Japanese lyrics first and translate them; I thought of the English sentences directly. So rather than calling it lyric writing, it was more like gathering together phrases I liked. There is still a connection from beginning to end, though.

The original song had four choruses, but my version keeps only the first three and turns the rest into a guitar solo (laughs). This may be a post hoc justification, but this album is not particularly guitar-player-like, so I wanted to put in something here that would sound unmistakably like a guitarist. Of course, I had wanted to play a solo somewhere anyway, and I specifically wanted to place it at the end rather than in an interlude.

● When choosing the types of songs, did you pay attention to the balance of the album as a whole?

Okamoto: I gave it some thought while gathering the songs. Usually, when making an album, you choose from a pool larger than the number of tracks you will include. My approach is to decide the total number of songs first and then find that many songs, so the album's balance is probably fairly complete from the outset. “LOST CHILD” is at 140 beats per minute, a type of song I had never made before, so I decided to try it here. I included “It's only love” because I thought it would be good to have one completely straightforward rock song. So yes, I selected them while considering the balance.

● “LOST CHILD” is different from your previous songs and has a great sense of speed.

Okamoto: When I was doing “PASTIME PARADISE” on THE MUSIC 272, there was a segment called “Let's make the opening theme,” and I came up with an idea then... Since it was an opening, I imagined it beginning with a series of short, repeated guitar sounds, gradually adding more parts, then the bass sliding and the entire sound suddenly bursting open as the program title appeared. This song was built on that passage. The development after the rhythm comes in is different, but the opening uses that idea. It felt good when it was played on the program, so I thought it could work as an album track too (laughs). The chords are different this time, and I did not know how it would turn out, but when I heard it, the effect was good. I was relieved.

● Had you wanted to try making a song this fast before?

Okamoto: I had tried, but it was not simply that I wanted to make a fast song... When the tempo gets faster, the sound can easily become young. Calling it youthful pop sounds nice, but from another angle, it can also be taken as childish music. To avoid that, I darkened the chords in the A sections and made it a fast song with a slightly poisonous edge. If it became too cute, it really would have nothing left but pop appeal.

● Would you like to try writing lyrics in Japanese in the future?

Okamoto: I would. If I did, I would probably begin with wordplay. When you write your own lyrics and then sing them yourself, you can easily start thinking, “This is a little embarrassing,” and hold yourself back.

● Some people feel that things they are embarrassed to say normally can be said in a song...

Okamoto: I have that feeling too. In any case, I should make a habit of writing down words and phrases. I do not have the sensitivity to collect language whenever it occurs to me, so it is difficult when I suddenly have to write (laughs). But thinking about the process of arranging phrases when I wrote the English lyrics this time, it would probably be easier if I regularly collected beautiful Japanese phrases.

● You have added more songs to your solo catalog with this album. Do you want to keep adding to it?

Okamoto: I do. Because it is a solo project, the sound can develop in whatever direction I want, and there is a great deal of freedom. I am really fortunate in that respect: I can make music according to how I feel at the time.

● Will you continue producing everything by yourself? Have you ever thought about recording even one song with a band?

Okamoto: If I kept making songs with a strong band feel like the ones on this album, it might be possible. But my state of mind may change again, so to be honest, I do not know. I cannot imagine it yet.

● Is there a song on this album that you particularly like?

Okamoto: It is not a matter of ranking them, but there are certainly several key songs. “sphere” is divided into two parts because I suddenly thought I would try that, and it unexpectedly turned out that way. From the perspective of taking on a two-part structure, it was meaningful. “telepathy” is a song for which I worked hard to come up with English lyrics myself, and “LOST CHILD” is another key song.

● What kind of work is this album for you?

Okamoto: I think it is more direct than the previous one. There were parts of the previous album that felt overdone to me. So this time, a simple song is truly simple, and I was able to put what I had learned before to use. I gave it everything I had and spent solid, careful time on it right up to the very last moment, so I hope everyone can hear it soon.

Release information

Hitoshi Okamoto's new album *FF/REWIND* arrives November 17.
GIZA studio / GZCA-5050 / 2,100 yen (tax included)

Track-by-track notes by Hitoshi Okamoto

1. “LOST CHILD”

A powerful pop song that is 90% guitar, and a perfect choice for the opening track. Like throwing a fastball straight down the middle as the very first pitch.

2. “no matter what”

A cover of Badfinger. I stayed faithful to the original where I felt I should, while also adding elements of my own.

3. “telepathy”

The first time I covered a song I had written for someone else, and my first serious attempt at writing lyrics. I recreated the feeling of the casually sung English from the demo!

4. “Autumn Sky”

A straightforward guitar-pop song that is 100% guitar and almost foolishly direct. Please also pay attention to the various emotions felt by the protagonist in the lyrics.

5. “Click Me Pt.2”

Like a remix of “Click Me,” part two. Put on headphones and see whether it feels comfortable—or uncomfortable. That is the kind of song it is.

6. “静寂の間に”

A mid-tempo ballad. I worked hard to make the entire song convey different landscapes and scenes.

7. “It's only love”

A pop song that takes “awkwardness” to the extreme, with constant changes throughout its three-minute span.

8. “sphere”

A song divided into two parts. Once again, I shaped the sound to evoke a variety of images, making this a highly visual piece.

Hitoshi Okamoto: lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, and more.
All songs composed by Hitoshi Okamoto (except track 2).
All songs arranged by Hitoshi Okamoto.
Lyrics by AZUKI Nana (tracks 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8).

On the air: a regular radio program!

*PASTIME PARADISE*
α-STATION, every other Saturday from 21:00 to 22:00.

Official website: hitoshi-okamoto.com