Es VOL.24 new album“メモリーズ”Yuri Nakamura、Hitoshi Okamotointerview(2)

●○◦ From music freak Es Vol.24
●●●GARNET CROW NEW ALBUM 『Memories』 NOW ON SALE

I did. When I heard the arrangement and saw the lyrics come in, I thought, “Ah, this is a man’s song!”
● The word “man” appears in the lyrics, too.
Nakamura: Yes, there’s that, and I also felt that the lyrics as a whole were written from a man’s perspective. I thought it might work better sung by a man than by a woman. I usually sing most of the backing vocals on GARNET CROW’s songs, but I felt that male backing vocals would give this song greater depth, so I asked Okamoto to do them. As it happened, Okamoto’s top note and the top note of the backing vocals in this song were exactly the same. That’s why the backing vocals throughout the song are all Okamoto’s.
Okamoto: It’s unusual to have me sing all of them like this, isn’t it?
● And the chorus has backing vocals for 70 or 80 percent of it. The chorus, where YURI Nakamura’s lead vocal overlaps with Hitoshi Okamoto’s backing vocals, must be one of the song’s major highlights.
Nakamura: Yes, I think so. I hope you’ll listen for it.
● Perhaps because it appears toward the end of the album, it also feels weighty and substantial, with an imposing presence.
Nakamura: It isn’t a song that immediately catches your ear—it isn’t flashy, bright, or catchy—but if you settle in and listen closely, I think you’ll find the quality of its raw materials, and something that shines or really moves you within its simplicity. “Eiyu” is a song I personally feel very strongly about, so of all the songs this time, it’s the one I most want people to hear.
● Every song has an incredible presence this time, but is there one that serves as the core?
Nakamura: I wouldn’t call it the core, but “JUDY” occupies the position of the album’s lead track. It turned out so well that I feel it could have been a single. It’s a very GARNET CROW-like song, with the wistfulness, fragility, and melancholy we’ve always had, shaped into a dramatic progression.
● The guitar is mixed fairly prominently. Okamoto, your distinctive solo was very memorable.
Okamoto: The lead appears in different places—the beginning, the middle, and the end—so I think that’s one of the song’s characteristics. We also filmed a video for this song, and we practiced it so thoroughly that we were already fully prepared to perform it live. That makes it especially memorable to me.
● The “JUDY” video has the members appearing in a manga, which is unlike anything you’ve done before.
Nakamura: The video’s director suggested combining live action and manga. We had a manga artist, Hirara Natsume, write an original manga story, and the story progresses within the video as the lyrics of “JUDY” and the live-action footage intertwine. So there are two ways to enjoy it. As a “JUDY” promotional video, I think it turned out beautifully, and from the perspective of the manga, it’s interesting because a different story unfolds from the content of the lyrics.
● It certainly ends in a way that makes you wonder what happens next.
Nakamura: Actually, the manga is a trilogy, and the part included in the video is Part 2, so there is a story before and after it. Part 1 is available for anyone to view on our official website, while a web viewing password for Part 3 is included with the CD. I think it’s a story that women will absolutely get hooked on!
● How did you feel about becoming manga characters?
Okamoto: Furui was incredibly excited about it (laughs). He actually wants to appear in Detective Conan, in any role at all!
Nakamura: Right (laughs). I had imagined Furui as a serious person who wasn’t interested in anything outside music, but no, apparently he really wanted to be involved (laughs). It was such a surprise—I was like, “That’s the first I’ve heard of it!” (laughs). The first pressing also includes an illustrated jacket as a bonus, and he loves that too. He even said, “Maybe I’ll use this illustration for my jackets and artist photos starting next year.” He’s surprisingly playful. Apparently he’s been waiting for an offer from Detective Conan for ages (laughs).
● The “JUDY” video is also included as a bonus on the first pressing, isn’t it?
Nakamura: Yes. Ms. Natsume was present throughout the video shoot and watched our movements from many different angles, so the finished version reproduces them with great delicacy. Please enjoy seeing the manga versions of all of us, including Furui.
● So “JUDY” is the album’s lead song, while the album itself is titled 『Memories』. There’s a song with the same title as track six; did that song come first?
Nakamura: Yes. Once the song “Memories” was finished, I suddenly thought, “Ah, let’s call the album 『Memories』!” The song has a very retro, slightly sentimental atmosphere, and its retro band sound made me feel deeply nostalgic. A lot happened in the first half of this year, and when I looked back on the past and revisited various memories, I felt a sense of nostalgia. I thought that feeling might represent this year. Each of you has your own memories and the life you’ve lived so far; they are one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable lives and memories. This song carries the message that I hope you will continue to treasure those things. I also put into it my wish that GARNET CROW’s music will always stay beside you and walk through life with you. I also liked that 『Memories』 uses simple, direct words that are easy for anyone to understand, rather than roundabout expressions.
● In that sense, it really is written in katakana rather than English.
Nakamura: Exactly. I kept saying that, too: it had to be katakana, not English. I wanted it to carry a feeling of nostalgia and longing for home. When you stop and look back, I hope it makes you feel that there are important things in your life. I think that can become the energy you need to keep moving tomorrow.
● “live” was originally included as the B-side of “Misty Mystery,” but is this a different version?
Nakamura: We replaced the rhythm section with live instruments and remixed it. So the version on this album differs from the B-side version. People around us responded much more positively to this song than expected when it was released as a single, and Furui liked it a lot too, so he was really enthusiastic. We decided to replace the bass and drums with live playing to express more of a band feel. Since “live” has been given a new look, it might be interesting to compare it with the version on the single. I think this version has a more direct, band-oriented finish.
● You mentioned “Lonely Night” earlier. The vocals are processed, aren’t they?
Nakamura: Yes. That was somewhat new for us, too. Until now, we’ve always worked with the policy of keeping the vocals as natural as possible, but this song is meant to be enjoyed as a playful experience. Rather than simply listening to it, we wanted people to experience and enjoy it together, so I asked the engineer to treat the vocals as one of the song’s materials and play with them freely. I think the result feels more like a remix than an ordinary mix.
● The first instrumental break has a guitar solo, and the next has a synthesizer solo, making it a song that should really get the audience excited live.
Nakamura: Yes. Furui said he was thinking about the live performance when he arranged that part. Furui is surprisingly enthusiastic about this kind of song.
Okamoto: He likes songs like “wish★” more than you’d expect, doesn’t he?
Nakamura: Exactly (laughs). You might think they aren’t his thing, but he really gets into them. Please watch Furui cut loose when you come to a live show!
● “Let’s Live Together” is also new in a sense—a cool, stylish song.
Nakamura: It has a very distinctive character, with an old-fashioned, somewhat GS-like guitar and arrangement. Bringing in that GS-like guitar gives people of our generation something that feels fresh rather than nostalgic, making the song interesting and a little different. It also contains a lot of instruments, so I think it would be fun to listen while paying attention to them.
● It has a flavor you could never have imagined from GARNET CROW in its debut days.
Nakamura: Yes, exactly.
● Your vocals are extremely cool too. How was the recording?
Nakamura: The difficult part was figuring out how to connect the sound and the lyrics. When I first saw the lyrics, I wondered how I was supposed to sing them (laughs). The lyrics are conversational, with phrases like “Let’s sing together” and “Let’s live together,” so I wondered whether they would blend into the sound if I sang them normally. I deliberately made the Japanese a little hard to understand, singing it in a blunt, flowing way that might make listeners think, “Is she singing in English? Oh, it was Japanese!”
● The guitar also stands out in this song.
Okamoto: The guitar is indeed mixed fairly prominently in this one.
Nakamura: The fills in the A section work like interjections, creating an interesting back-and-forth between the vocals and guitar. The guitar is almost loud enough to cut into the vocals (laughs), but overall I think it turned out really well.
● Doesn’t the guitar generally have more going on this time?
Okamoto: This was a difficult album, to be honest. There wasn’t a single song that came easily. I struggled so much during recording that I can still remember every song at a glance (laughs).
● Of all those songs, which guitar solo do you like best?
Okamoto: As I mentioned earlier, “JUDY” stands out because I played it in the video as well, and I like the solo itself. Also, I recorded part of “Lonely Night” at home with the intention of chopping the sound into waveforms, which is unusual for a GARNET CROW album.
Nakamura: I like the outro of “Seijaku no concerto.” The guitar plays in unison with the backing vocals, and when I first heard that part, I thought, “What a beautiful ending phrase.” I deliberately added backing vocals afterward and wove them into it. I made the guitar lead and my backing vocals harmonize nicely, so I could enjoy the best of both worlds too (laughs).
● “Seijaku no concerto” is a very GARNET CROW-like song.
Nakamura: Yes. It has beautiful strings, and after performing with an orchestra last year, I was reminded once again of how wonderful beautiful songs with strings can be. I wanted to incorporate that kind of song into this album as well. I think it became a beautiful piece with a beautiful harmony, where our music and the strings collaborate successfully.
● AZUKI Nana’s lyrics also suit a beautiful melody like this.
Nakamura: Yes. Actually, these are my favorite lyrics on the album. I think they’re wonderful. In terms of the melody, lyrics, tune, and harmony, I think it became a song that deserves the unqualified adjective “beautiful.”
● “Genesis I” is also a new song. Is it read “one” or “ichi”?
Okamoto: AZUKI said “ichi”!
● I thought the chorus was especially memorable.
Nakamura: This song has no B section after the A section; it goes straight into the chorus. That leap is interesting, and the way it breaks through from a quiet passage straight into the chorus gives it impact. I think it’s an especially distinctive song for GARNET CROW. The chorus also has many long tones, sung in a high key, so you can really feel the vocal pressure and power. It’s a powerful song.
● “Blue Regret” is a grand ballad that feels perfect for the finale.
Nakamura: I remember very clearly when this song came together. I was watching a drama set in Okinawa, about old Ryukyu. The characters wore bingata, brilliantly colored kimonos worn by the Ryukyuan royal family—vivid red, bright yellow, deep blue, and pure white. Since it was set in Okinawa, the sky and sea were blue and the green was vivid too; everyone had black hair, pale skin, and red lipstick. The song was inspired by all those vivid colors that leapt into my eyes, so one part of the chorus actually has a melody where a Ryukyuan flavor can be glimpsed. The arrangement is completely different, though. I personally think it might even suit sanshin, and I’d like to try that kind of arrangement somewhere someday.
● Did you tell AZUKI Nana about that image before she wrote the lyrics?
Nakamura: No, I didn’t. But when the lyrics came back and included the word “Blue,” I thought, “Ah!” When I asked her later, she said she had imagined a gradation of blue, so she received an image of soft, pale blue rather than the vivid colors I had imagined. But even though I only gave her the demo and said nothing, it seems we connected through the keyword of color—

● What kind of food do you like?　Nakamura: Italian!　Okamoto: There are surprisingly many Asian dishes I can’t eat. Cilantro is fine depending on how it’s prepared, but I can’t handle anything that’s just overwhelmingly cilantro. Coconut is also a no-go. It makes me feel as though I’m eating cream, which I don’t like. Other than that, I can eat anything!