VOL.176 “花は咲いて ただ揺れて”Yuri Nakamurainterview

●○○From music freak magazine Vol.176

New Single「花は咲いて ただ揺れて」
2009.8.19 Release!!

●A great deal of information, including the live tour, was announced along with the release of this single. Had GARNET CROW been preparing with those activities as a major focus?

Yuri Nakamura (hereafter Nakamura): Yes. We had already decided on our plans for the second half of the year, so while steadily preparing for them, we were also working on the recordings. It feels as though all that information has finally been made public.

●Was 「花は咲いて ただ揺れて」 written during that production period?

Nakamura: This song, its coupling track 「愛に似てる」, and about one other song were finished around the same time last year. From among them, we chose the song that fit this single best, and that became 「花は咲いて ただ揺れて」.

●What made you choose it as the single track?

Nakamura: We placed the emphasis on choosing a classic ballad in the style of GARNET CROW. Since we were also preparing to announce an album, we wanted to release a song as the pre-album single that could be presented as “this is GARNET CROW.” So, from among the many ballads, we chose the one that was easiest to listen to, most dramatic, and had the greatest sense of glamour.

●So the timing was also a major reason for choosing a classic ballad.

Nakamura: We entrusted this single with the role of an introduction that would make people interested in the album. We wanted listeners to hear this song and think, “So this is what GARNET CROW’s world is like,” and then want to learn more. For that purpose, we felt a ballad that could become synonymous with GARNET CROW would be best.

●Did you have anything specific in mind while developing 「花は咲いて ただ揺れて」?

Nakamura: This was one of the songs that came together during a period last year when I was writing nothing but ballads. Its world was already firmly established at the demo stage, with an air of both dignified strength and fragility or weakness, so we expanded that and brought it to completion. In terms of strength and weakness coexisting within a single song, it may be an unusual work even among GARNET CROW’s previous releases.

●There are contrasts in the song’s development as well.

Nakamura: I think the lyrics let you feel the fragility and delicacy of a flower, while the sheen and strength in the voice during the chorus also convey a dignified power. The way the words feel changes when you only read the lyrics versus when you hear them as a song, and that is interesting too. The lyrics describe the life of a flower, but the words can also be understood as a metaphor for a human life, so I think they are very easy to relate to. The song’s structure is also a very clear, classic ballad, so it comes naturally to the ear… In that sense, it became a stable song that sinks into the listener’s heart without causing any strain.

●To give it that sense of stability, did you pay attention to the balance among the individual sounds?

Nakamura: When you prioritize ease of listening, it can lead to a song feeling lightweight, so we made sure that would not happen. We took care to preserve its accessibility while figuring out how to guide the song toward something dramatic and grand. In terms of valuing the melody, Hirohito Furui says, “I’m putting my life into the intro,” and Okamotochi (Hitoshi Okamoto) says, “I played the guitar with a lot of feeling,” so each member’s particular commitment should come through in the sound. For the vocals as well, I paid attention to the balance between making the song glamorous and dramatic and properly expressing its clarity and catchiness.

●Did production proceed smoothly?

Nakamura: The image for this song was clear from the demo stage, and the work was simply a matter of giving that image form, so the song came together quickly. We did not have to record it repeatedly while experimenting, and it was not the kind of song that needed to mature over a long period, so we were able to make it without stress. This kind of ballad is also a style we like, so by enjoying ourselves and putting our individual tastes into it, we created a song we feel deeply attached to and confident about.

●Many of your recent songs seemed conscious of the listener or incorporated new approaches. After that, returning to a ballad like 「花は咲いて ただ揺れて」 also feels meaningful.

Nakamura: When I wondered what kind of song would bring out GARNET CROW’s character most strongly, I thought it had to be this kind of style after all… We are also good at this type of song, so it feels like we brought out one of our specialties.

●What did you think when you read AZUKI’s lyrics?

Nakamura: The song itself had strength, of course, but it also conveyed beauty and fragility, so when the lyrics comparing those qualities to a flower came in, I thought, “I see.” They are filled with very beautiful words that easily bring images to mind, and I thought it was simply a beautiful song… Even after mixing, I felt it had become a very lustrous song. It has the image of a flower wet with water, with droplets running down it… I feel that it became a sensual song.

●Did the beauty of the lyrics make it easier to put feeling into your singing?

Nakamura: I was able to enter the world of the song from the intro, so I could sing along with the sound without overthinking anything. During the chorus I got caught up in the mood and almost added vibrato, but that would have made it too sensual, so I held back when singing it. The development is so clear that all I had to do was reflect the song’s world directly in the vocals, which made it very comfortable to sing.

●Incidentally, which part of the lyrics do you like most?

Nakamura: The chorus, naturally. When I read it, I thought of the phrase “Life is short; love, young maiden,” or something like that. A flower’s life is short, yet it tries to bloom magnificently, and the fragility of knowing that it will eventually wither somehow connected with my own life… Human life also has limits, and I strongly empathized with the way everyone lives earnestly, trying to make their own flower bloom within those limits. At the same time, I could also feel the spirit of “Let it be,” the desire to live just as one is, and that often struck me.

●What kind of flower do you think the flower in these lyrics is?

Nakamura: A rose. Roses appear on the single jacket and in the PV as well, and I think a rose is perfect as a glamorous, beautiful symbol. Personally, this may be a little obvious, but I also like lilies… (laughs). Among lilies, I especially like Casa Blanca lilies.

●What is the PV like?

Nakamura: Roses appear at key points, and one is finally snapped at the end. That scene is one of my favorites, so please be sure to watch it.

●「愛に似てる」 is a different kind of ballad from 「花は咲いて ただ揺れて」.

Nakamura: I think 「花は咲いて ただ揺れて」 is the kind of song you lose yourself in, while 「愛に似てる」 has a more apparent groove, making it an active, easy-to-sing-along-to mid-tempo ballad. The phrase 「愛に似てる」 is repeated in the chorus, so I think the title is easy to catch as well. It was originally also a candidate for the single, so it has a solidly catchy quality.

●Was the chorus meant to be thick from the very beginning?

Nakamura: I thought of that chorus while recording the vocals. I wondered, “Would it feel good to put in a thick chorus here?” and kept adding parts, so it was a song where ideas came to me as I sang. It was fun to see the expression of the song change when we added the chorus.

●Did you give AZUKI any guidance when asking her to write the lyrics?

Nakamura: I did not tell her anything in particular about this song, but when I made it, I was also singing a song about “love,” so I thought it was unusual even for AZUKI to include the word “love” in her lyrics. But her refusal to state “love” outright, calling it “something like love,” is very AZUKI… I think it is very GARNET CROW to probe that gray area. The point is that it is not “love,” but “something like love” (laughs).

●When you hear “something like love,” what do you imagine?

Nakamura: Something that is not love… (laughs). It feels like something hidden deep in the heart—something you thought was love, but that turned out to be different.