VOL.126 18th single“君の思い描いた夢 集メル HEAVEN”

From music freak magazine Vol.126

GARNET CROW

New single “君の思い描いた夢 集メル HEAVEN” to be released on May 18!

GARNET CROW, celebrating the fifth anniversary of their debut this year, will release their 18th single, “君の思い描いた夢 集メル HEAVEN,” five months after their previous single. The release contains three songs that bring together the group's varied musical appeal. We spoke with vocalist Yuri Nakamura about the new work.

●First, “君の思い描いた夢集メル HEAVEN” is the theme song for the anime *MÄR* (Märchen Awakens Romance), and the title also brings the anime to mind. Did you consciously write the song to fit the anime?

Yuri Nakamura (hereafter Nakamura): No. The original demo actually existed by the end of last year, and it was a ballad. After the New Year, we thought, “Why not try turning it into an upbeat song?” We tried it a little, and it worked especially well, so we decided, “Then let's go with this.” We continued developing it in that direction, and I suppose someone involved with *MÄR* came to like it. I wrote the lyrics after that, so their content was adapted to the anime, but the song itself was not written specifically for it.

●I see. Still, changing a ballad into an upbeat song was a bold idea.

Nakamura: I think this is probably the first time since “スパイラル” that we've done something like that (laughs). The groove changes completely. Once the tempo becomes faster, the lyrics have to be arranged more densely too, but that gives the song a powerful momentum. I think it was absolutely the right decision.

●With such a major change in arrangement and rhythm, was it the work of Furui's “magic touch”?

Nakamura: That was part of it. I only asked him to “make it an upbeat song.” Furui must have heard the original ballad version too, and transforming it into this arrangement was his magic. It was genuinely fun to make. It has momentum and is easy to take in, so I think it turned out very well. The vocal range is not too high this time either, so the sound should reach the ear very directly.

●It also feels different from GARNET CROW's recent soft, quiet image.

Nakamura: Maybe there was a bit of a reaction to having made ballad after ballad for a while... It had been a long time since we had made a song with this kind of rhythm. The season is spring, when everything is beginning to grow, so we could release ourselves all at once. It was nice to be a little more lively too (laughs).

●The release date is May 18, and it is your 18th single in your fifth anniversary year. Was that something Nakamura planned deliberately?

Nakamura: Oh, is that how it works!? I was only thinking, “This is the first one of the year”... (laughs). I see, it is easy to remember! Then let's say I planned it deliberately (laughs).

●What are the lyrics like? “集メル HEAVEN” echoes the anime's original title, “メルヘヴン.”

Nakamura: I thought, “What a clever idea!” It really is brilliant. The lyrics are very positive and easy to understand too. Of course, we hope the anime's viewers will understand them, but most importantly, the words are easy to take in while still creating their own lyrical world. That balance is wonderful. Reading them makes you look forward to things too; they feel like a dream world, and the scenes appear clearly in your mind, so it was fun to sing them.

From music freak magazine Vol.126

●The title is very long. Was it difficult to memorize?

Nakamura: Once you sing that melody, it is basically the title (laughs). So please remember it by singing it.

●The second track, “Circle Days,” shows a darker side of GARNET CROW.

Nakamura: It has a somewhat rich and mellow feeling. At the demo stage, it actually sounded more like guitar pop and had a very fast tempo. But when the melody of the B section appeared, the whole world suddenly took shape, and I thought, “This should be slower, with a gentler groove.” Rather than an exhilarating feeling that makes you jump up and down, it is somewhat European-style dark pop (laughs). That image appeared all at once, so we continued in that direction.

●I hear the production was difficult.

Nakamura: We spent a lot of time deciding on the sense of speed. The groove is important: if it is too slow, the song feels long and loose, while if it is too fast, it may end before you have time to feel it. Finding the tempo that fits exactly was very difficult. But that is why we finally found the right point.

●You are very meticulous about those details.

Nakamura: Am I? (laughs) The groove changes if the tempo shifts by just one or two beats per minute. One beat faster or slower makes a huge difference, so we have to adjust it until it fits and feels comfortable.

●Actually, I thought you would place more emphasis on the melody.

Nakamura: The groove is extremely important. When the groove is right, the vocals can naturally follow it too. But if the groove is unstable, no matter how you sing, everything will not come together, and it will not sound comfortable. This is especially true when making a mid-tempo song: a little faster or slower changes the groove completely, even changing how the melody sounds to the listener. So we consider very strictly whether to make it two beats faster or one beat slower.

The range in which a song like this can lock into place is narrower. It is like threading a needle: precisely because the suitable range is so small, once the tempo is set, you can sing the rest easily and smoothly.

●The lyrics, vocals, and melody fit together beautifully. And the song ends with “like the end of a romance... perhaps,” which is completely unexpected.

Nakamura: The melody came naturally, as usual, but I certainly did not expect the lyrics to fit it this way. That ending is very clever. It emerged only after the lyrics had been written and the arrangement completed. At the demo stage, it was simply a melody, and AZUKI handled the places that needed to settle at the end. Once words like these were added, the sound gently disappeared at that moment too, and the vocals naturally descended.

●This is a world that only GARNET CROW could create.

Nakamura: I especially like this song myself.

●The third track, “いつかまた会いましょう,” is a light bossa nova.

Nakamura: In my mind, the rhythm of bossa nova is a groove that lets you feel a little of life's simple happiness. I imagined a song with a bit of energy, natural like freshly washed cotton, that could make people feel happy. I wondered whether a bossa nova rhythm would suit it, so I tried writing it that way. The original image remained intact. But this is a rare rhythm for GARNET CROW, so singing it felt fresh.

I also think it suits this season perfectly. Perhaps you are having tea outdoors while it plays in a café, or you open a window at home, bask in the sunlight, and read a book. It is nice that the song brings to mind these ordinary, happy scenes from everyday life.

●Recent GARNET CROW songs really do convey these small moments of happiness in daily life.

Nakamura: I do not think we pursue that deliberately. It is probably just the imagination that the songs bring out, which naturally ends up becoming this. In terms of the writing process, “いつかまた会いましょう” is unusual because we decided on the bossa nova rhythm right from the beginning, and that is why it became what it is now. Normally, I write melodies without any preconception, so this song was comparatively rare in that respect.

●Was this kind of song also not inspired by hearing a particular piece of music?

Nakamura: No. It is not as if I hear something and think, “Ah, that's it.” Perhaps I heard it somewhere and later thought of it unconsciously, and only then did it surface. This time, it is possible that I heard something playing in a shop while I was out shopping, and only that rhythm remained in my memory. Melodies always appear that way, so I never know when one will come (laughs).

●GARNET CROW has absolutely no strategy in these areas (laughs).

Nakamura: It is all the result. For us, rather than deciding in advance that something must be a certain way, it is easier to make whatever comes to mind or whatever we see. We can think about a sound in our heads, but what we actually produce may be different. Even if I imagine singing something one way, once I hear the accompaniment and sing along with it, it may turn out differently. So whether it is the song, lyrics, arrangement, key, or tempo, we first make everything and then judge it by the result.

●How is the pace of production this year?

Nakamura: It feels good. We have not run into any particularly serious bottlenecks, and we have been able to spend enough time recording, so one good song after another keeps emerging (laughs).

●Do you have many songs in reserve?

Nakamura: A lot. We choose from them, and we also write new songs recently... We are enjoying it ourselves too, saying things like, “This one was written a long time ago, and this one was written recently.”

●Is this still GARNET CROW's usual pace?

Nakamura: Yes. I think we are creating music at just the right pace.

●By continuing with this approach of “let's try it and keep going,” GARNET CROW has now been active for five years...

Nakamura: Looking back, it feels incredibly short. Five years is a long time, but it is also very short. We did not often look back; we simply kept working hard to make the song in front of us as good as possible. Now, when I look back, I realize that we have created five years' worth of work before we knew it. So I think our way of making songs and our ideas have not changed at all during this time.

●The indescribable harmony among the four of you, along with that subtle distance and atmosphere, has not changed much either, has it?

Nakamura: It has not changed.

●In Nakamura's eyes, have the other members remained the same since your first impressions of them?

Nakamura: They have not changed. (She answers immediately.) I am the one who gets excited and talks on and on, while AZUKI says, “Sure.” Furui seems to see farthest ahead and says, “Hmm, sounds good.” Okamoto says, “Yeah, okay.” I am usually there going, “How about this? How about that? Wow” (laughs), while the other three organize it all properly...

But I often focus only on the song right in front of me (laughs). The other members seem to see farther ahead. AZUKI thinks about GARNET CROW this year, next year, and even further into the future. As an arranger, Furui also watches how the music industry is changing while hoping to create things for GARNET CROW that will remain for a long time, so their view of the future is certainly much better than mine.

I think GARNET CROW has made it this far precisely because it has never changed. It probably will not change in the future either, and I do not want it to. I hope we can continue just like this.

●I hope you can continue this way forever.

Nakamura: Yes. We will just keep quietly making music like this.

●Are there any other plans for this fifth-anniversary year?

Nakamura: There are. Since it is our fifth anniversary, we started touring at the beginning of the year, released our first photo book, and held our first fan-club event. So yes, it has been a very full year. With the singles too, we hope to give people more memorable reminders than in previous years that “GARNET CROW did something like this” and “GARNET CROW wrote a song like that.” We want to enjoy our fifth anniversary ourselves and make it a memorable year, so various plans are still being prepared.

(Interview: Sai Saida)

Release information

GARNET CROW's new single “君の思い描いた夢 集メル HEAVEN,” released May 18.
GIZA studio / ¥1,260 (tax included)
First press edition: GZCA-4040; regular edition: GZCA-4041.

1. 君の思い描いた夢 集メル HEAVEN
2. Circle Days
3. いつかまた会いましょう
4. 君の思い描いた夢 集メル HEAVEN 〜instrumental〜

Lyrics: AZUKI Nana; music: Yuri Nakamura; arrangement: Hirohito Furui.

Only the first press limited edition includes the access password for the fifth-anniversary website.

※“君の思い描いた夢 集メル HEAVEN” is the opening theme for the TV Tokyo network anime *MÄR* (Märchen Awakens Romance).

DVD confirmed for early summer!

Along with music videos, behind-the-scenes footage from the cover photo shoot, precious unreleased concert footage, and various scenes from the past five years, the DVD will also include interviews with the members. In addition, the latest tour, *livescope 2005 〜I'm waiting 4 you & live〜*, held in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka in January 2005, will be included in full! Details will be announced on the official website once they are finalized. Look forward to it!

GARNET CROW website: garnetcrow.com/