Yuri Nakamura, who handles vocals and composition for GARNET CROW, says that music had always been close to her from the time she was little. Of course she still listens to many works now, but the way she collects CDs is bold in itself.
Yuri Nakamura:Once I think something is good, I end up collecting every work by that artist. If there’s a huge amount, I’ll pick things out, but in the end I collect everything... Even if one album doesn’t suit me, I think another album might contain something I like, so I can’t feel satisfied unless I collect them all! I’m a homebody and don’t go out much, so on the way back from recording I stop by record shops. When it comes to CDs, my basic rule is: if you’re unsure, buy it! Rather than regretting not listening, I think I should try listening first. So I always carry a basket (laughs). Besides, you can’t understand a person from just one album, can you? Maybe the concept at that time just didn’t match me, but something earlier might, or something current might... Deciding it doesn’t suit you after listening to only one work feels like a waste.
As for the artists she listed this time, she naturally has all their works too. One thing she is particular about when buying works is that, for Western music, she always chooses the Japanese edition.
Yuri Nakamura:I look at the lyrics too, but I really look forward to the liner notes. When I see things like, “This person used to do this,” or “They worked with this person,” I go on to listen to that artist’s CDs as well. If someone who influenced me thinks a person is good, then maybe I’ll like them too. So there are songs I hear on the radio and think are good, but in my case, more often I expand my listening from the liner notes of artists I like. Other than that, I listen to things that seem good from the top-ten rankings at record stores or the recommendation comments in free papers.
Her targets are broad, from the top ten to more maniacal works she checks through free papers and liner notes. We asked her to name six favorite works she has been listening to often recently.
●The Cranberries “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?”
An Irish rock band formed by four members centered on vocalist Dolores O’Riordan (Vo, G, Key): Noel Hogan (electric & acoustic G), Mike Hogan (B), and Fergal Lawler (Ds, Per). This work is the debut album that made them, already immensely popular in the British indie scene, famous worldwide.
Yuri Nakamura:When I heard it, I was shocked by the voice and melody lines. Dolores O’Riordan is the female vocalist, and I’m influenced by the resonance of her voice from low to high, and by the way she uses falsetto. The melody lines, which have the scent of Irish folk music, are also distinctive and stay in your ear. I carried this album around in a CD Walkman and listened to it so much that I lost the jacket and case. When I get stuck composing, this is the first thing I listen to. It’s a reliable album, like a detonator that makes something seem ready to well up. Listening to this band made me want to try something with folk-like melody lines, and the song “pray,” included on GARNET CROW’s second album, came from that.
●The Corrs “in blue”
From Dundalk, Ireland. The group was formed in 1990 by four siblings: older brother Jim Corr (G, Key), eldest daughter Sharon (violin), second daughter Caroline (Ds), and third daughter Andrea (Vo, whistle). Mixing traditional Celtic music into a pop, melodious sound, they created new hit tunes in Irish music.
Yuri Nakamura:This is Irish too, and the sound and choruses are beautiful. Also, the violin phrases carve out melodies unique to Irish music, so there is a lot that gives me inspiration, a lot I can absorb. This one feels good when I listen to it as a total work. It is more pop than The Cranberries, so recently I listen to this work often.
●Alanis Morissette “under rug swept”
A female singer-songwriter from Canada. She debuted in 1991 with “Alanis.” At the Juno Awards, known as Canada’s Grammy Awards, she won Most Promising Female Vocalist and received the highest recognition within Canada. Her ability is said to have changed the flow of the female rock vocal scene. Like her second album, this work is self-produced by Alanis herself.
Yuri Nakamura:Her voice is very strong, and she sings in a way that really brings out herself. That is something I still don’t have, so I admire it. The slight feeling of pushing you away, the way her singing comes at you... Leaving aside chorus or sound and all that, she is someone who can carry it with just her singing. I think she could work a cappella. The message put into the lyrics also comes at you, and I want to sing strong songs like that too, so she is my number-one admired female vocalist! Of course I have all of her works too. I’m introducing the latest one this time, but I like each of her works in its own way.
●Bjork “Selma Songs”
From Iceland. In the 1980s she was active as vocalist of the band The Sugarcubes. After leaving the band, she made her solo debut in 1993. This is the soundtrack to “Dancer in the Dark,” which drew attention with Bjork in the starring role, won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and earned Bjork the Best Actress award.
Yuri Nakamura:Overall, it’s like I like the existence called “Bjork.” Her singing has persuasive power and hits the chest, and I think she’s cool. Her sound also incorporates things that are current and cutting-edge technologies, so she has rich expressive power. Her individuality is tremendous. Rather than fashionable trendiness, her sound feels sharp and stimulating, and I’m interested in what she’ll do next. I feel she challenges something with each work, and as the listener I feel like, “I’m going to listen to this! I’ll take it on!” She is already in a different realm, so rather than admiration, I watch her from a third-person perspective. Listening to her feels like something in me could change, like it could become stimulation for everyday life. The album I listen to most is “Post,” and I really like “Hyper-ballad.” The theme song from the film “Dancer in the Dark” on “Selma Songs” was good... By the way, I naturally have all the works of The Sugarcubes, the band she used to be in (laughs).
●CLOUDBERRY JAM “going further” (import best album)
A Swedish pop band formed in 1991. The average age of the members at the time was 21. The band name reportedly came from “a dessert at the Chinese restaurant the members frequented.” With vocalist Jennie’s low, soulful voice and their nostalgic, mellow musicality, they were at the center of Japan’s Swedish movement, but in 1998, after Jennie left, they suddenly disbanded.
Yuri Nakamura:I think this band’s dry, parched feeling connects to GARNET CROW’s neo-acoustic side. They are people whose sound lets you feel the earth, or imagine images of cliffs somewhere in Northern Europe, the sea and greenery. I also like the earthy, simple, more acoustic feeling of their sound. I want to listen to them when I feel relieved. They have male and female twin vocals, and the balance of the male chorus is good. Last year, when a former member came to Japan to promote a new band, it seems he had looked at GARNET CROW’s homepage and sent an email. If there’s a chance, I’d like to do something together.
●SUZANNE VEGA “SONGS IN RED AND GRAY”
Born in Los Angeles and raised in New York. She debuted in 1985. She is highly regarded for beautiful melodies, lyrics that capture emotions and scenes from a delicate perspective, and avant-garde sound approaches. This work is her sixth album, released after five years.
Yuri Nakamura:It isn’t flashy, but I like the atmosphere and her slightly husky voice quality. She is calming to listen to, like a healing type. Her voice quality is completely different from Alanis. Rather than breaking through, it feels like it wraps around you, and that dry feeling really fits. Her sound is not challenging or cutting-edge either; it feels like she has continued in this person’s style all along. It is not because it hits some current point or because it is popular, but universal pop music that you can listen to unchanged anytime, anywhere. She has a stance of not being swept along by her surroundings, and properly makes what is her own, so I think she is good as a singer-songwriter too. Her voice is gentle, but I feel that her production stance has something very strict in it. It must be hard to keep making something that never changes. She has a “her-ness” that cannot be compared with others, and that is something I both admire and learn from. I want to always have an unchanging worldview that can be called “GARNET CROW-like” too...
She says she only realized after it was pointed out that all the artists were women, or had female vocalists. But it seems that, because she herself is a vocalist, she reacts sensitively to voice quality.
Yuri Nakamura:Because I sing too, there seems to be a part of me that is inevitably drawn to women. I always have an ideal of “a song like this,” so perhaps I unconsciously search for people who match that, and as a result there are many female vocalists. After all, I listen while wanting to make use of something in myself in some form...
Yuri Nakamura of GARNET CROW continues to make songs that are calm yet pierce the chest. Why not listen for yourselves to these artists who influenced her and whom she respects?