GARNET CROW “風とRAINBOW／この手を伸ばせば” Interview
February 2007music freak magazineAdded on July 9, 2026
Double A-side single "風とRAINBOW / この手を伸ばせば" / "この手を伸ばせば / 風とRAINBOW" on sale February 21, 2007!
-- First, I would like to ask about last year's live tour, "GARNET CROW livescope 2006 〜THE TWILIGHT VALLEY〜." It had been a while since you had held a live tour with an original album, but now that it is over, what are your thoughts?
Yuri Nakamura:For this live tour, we changed the set list and tried a lineup with strings, making it completely different from what we had done before. So I was a little anxious about how everyone would react, but once we did it, it was truly fun, and I am glad it succeeded. This time we were able to realize the form of live performance we most wanted to do, so I was happy.
-- When thinking about the structure of the live performance, was there anything you held up as a theme?
Yuri Nakamura:Our fifth album, *THE TWILIGHT VALLEY*, was a work that gave us a very strong response ourselves, so we started from the thought that we wanted people to hear songs from that album. GARNET CROW enters its seventh year this year, and up to now we have held live tours at roughly the pace of one per year, so we had gradually come to understand what kind of reaction would come back with which song... At that point, I thought a live performance where you can predict what comes next would be boring. I thought one of the true pleasures of a concert is the excitement when you hear the intro and wonder, "What song is this... ah, is it this one?" So we had the idea of making it something where you could not see what was coming. That is why we left out from the set list songs that would usually be chosen because "if we do this, it will get people excited," and thought up a new structure. More than doing the same songs many times, we wanted people to hear many different songs of ours, so we changed the set list completely. Up to now we had been doing everything we could just to sing and play, but after accumulating five or six years of activity, I think we gained the room to pay attention to "showing" the stage. So we thought about making it enjoyable to watch, and were particular about making the costumes, set, lighting, and staging different from before too.
-- Could you feel the state of the audience from the stage?
Yuri Nakamura:I could see the audience clearly. When an intro played, there were people whispering to the person next to them, "It's that song, right?" and people looking surprised as if to say, "I figured out this song!" It was fun to see those expressions. I think they were able to enjoy the feeling of not being able to read what came next.
-- At this live tour, the current single "風とRAINBOW / この手を伸ばせば" was performed for the first time. How was that?
Yuri Nakamura:There was a part of me that was fully occupied with ourselves. "風とRAINBOW" was introduced and sung in the flow of communicating with the audience, so I think it was good that we were able to present it while riding that momentum.
-- When "この手を伸ばせば" was performed during the encore, many people in the audience were listening to the song very seriously, and I could feel the tension from that.
Yuri Nakamura:That makes me very happy. When people lean forward emotionally and try to listen seriously so as not to miss a single word, that attitude really comes through even when I am singing onstage, so I had the feeling that they were properly listening. With "風とRAINBOW" too, when I called out the title, I could hear applause from the audience, so I was happy that the sincere feelings of the people listening came through.
-- "風とRAINBOW" is a song born after the album. What kind of image did you make it from?
Yuri Nakamura:I had the feeling that I wanted to try something a little powerful, a sound with backbone, and that is how I made it. Also, the Latin taste is a flow carried over from the previous album, but from there it took one more step forward into a rock sound... While keeping the groovy rhythm and good feel of Latin, we moved the sound closer to rock.
-- When asking Mr. Furui for the arrangement, did you make any requests?
Yuri Nakamura:I told him simply, "Rock" (laughs). When I heard what he made, it had become cooler than I expected, so I thought this could really work. The sound is masculine, and the lyrics have an inorganic feeling, so they fit perfectly.
-- When you read AZUKI's lyrics, were there any parts that left an impression?
Yuri Nakamura:There were places where I thought, "These words are going to ride on this melody?" with divisions of notes that I had not had inside myself. The divisions of one phrase in the melody at the demo stage and the divisions of one phrase as the lyrics were fitted in after being completed were subtly different, and I found those places interesting. Words that appear near the beginning, like "body" and "metal heart," are like that. At the demo stage, they had not been emphasized this much, but by having those words enter, the melody rose out even more, and I found that interesting.
-- The title "風とRAINBOW" has impact too.
Yuri Nakamura:AZUKI said this "RAINBOW" looked coolest not in katakana, but written in uppercase English letters (laughs). Apparently she tried various ways of writing it, and uppercase English letters fit best.
-- Both "wind" and "RAINBOW" are things you cannot actually grasp. Ms. Nakamura, what kind of image do you have of rainbows?
Yuri Nakamura:Until now I had a fairy-tale-like image of rainbows, but after reading the lyrics of this song, my image changed. Until now it was something on the extension of a maiden's heart, but now it feels like something cool. When you hear this song, you do not picture a "seven-colored rainbow," right (laughs)? The image here feels a little cold and ungraspable, or inorganic.
-- Is there a part of the lyrics of "風とRAINBOW" that you like?
Yuri Nakamura:The first part, "陽だまり横たわる魅力的なそのボディ." We did it at the Tokyo performance of last year's live tour, didn't we, a pose at the word "body"... (laughs). It left such a strong impression that I felt I had to strike a pose. It makes your heart race from the beginning. Among GARNET CROW songs, I think it is aggressive and provocative.
-- "この手を伸ばせば" is a different type of song from "風とRAINBOW."
Yuri Nakamura:This was mostly finished during last year, and before reaching that point, there was a process of correcting the melody several times and refining it. That led to its current form, but it is something we put out very straight, without tricks... We made it while valuing the beauty of the melody, the phrases in the lyrics, and my own voice.
-- Did this song have its sense of scale from the beginning?
Yuri Nakamura:Yes. From the time I made it, I had the desire to make it a grand ballad. I think that was carried through even after the arrangement.
-- Are there any parts of the lyrics that left a deep impression on you?
Yuri Nakamura:I like the phrases "人はただ明日を信じながら歩いてゆけるものなんでしょう" and "君はもう あしたを その瞳にみてるんだね." Actually, I think this year may be the true start for GARNET CROW in a real sense. Last year, I think we moved forward while still carrying the momentum of the fifth anniversary from the year before in our hearts, so this year it feels emotionally like we have gone one full circle, and the feeling of entering a second round is stronger than last year. In that sense, feelings like "let us face tomorrow" and "let us move forward" link with the lyrics, so I think it became a song that expresses our current feelings, or GARNET CROW this year. And I am glad we can present it as this year's first single.
-- When you performed it live, the way you sang while savoring each word left an impression. Was the recording like that too?
Yuri Nakamura:Yes. I think the lyrics of this song make each word easy to hear, so I sang while valuing that. I thought there was a goodness in something that is conveyed directly, so without deliberately doing something unusual or taking on a new challenge, it feels like we made it by placing the beauty of the melody on the singing just as it was.
-- I heard that "廻り道" changed considerably from the feeling it had when it was first made into what it is now. What kind of song was it at first?
Yuri Nakamura:Originally it was made as a complete ballad, but when we wondered what would happen if we raised the tempo and tried it, the tempo-up version became more dramatic and cooler, so it took its current form. It is a song we made while trying various things. We also had Furui make several patterns for the intro, and we exchanged ideas like, "This would be better," "That would be better," so the phrase in the intro before the singing begins was quite thoroughly built. Among the three songs this time, it may have taken the most time. It was one of the candidate tracks during the production of the album *THE TWILIGHT VALLEY*. Because it took time to reach its current form, we have affection for it, and it has become a sound in a form we ourselves think is good, so it is a song we can recommend to everyone with confidence.
-- The lyrics also have content that brings scenes to mind. When you read them, what did you imagine?
Yuri Nakamura:I think the word "朱焼け," while standing on the world of *THE TWILIGHT VALLEY*, made it a song that shows the part of ourselves in our seventh year that is moving forward. From "朱焼け" I received the impression of the sky spreading out, and it also felt refreshing, so when recording, I sang while wanting to bring out a transparent voice and a feeling of breaking through.
-- By releasing this single, I think GARNET CROW's musical activities in 2007 will become even more active. This year will be an important one, won't it?
Yuri Nakamura:Yes. As I said earlier, it feels like we have gone around once and are entering a second round, and in that sense I feel refreshed, as if starting from zero. Last year we did various things while still carrying the flow of the fifth anniversary, but after entering this year, that kind of burden has been lifted in a good way. Up to now, the things we had accumulated had created a certain color, and there were times when we searched for what we could do within that. But this year it feels refreshing, as if we have moved on to the next page and started with a blank notebook. Compared with last year, this year I feel that while returning to our original spirit, we have also been able to step up by one level. From there, my desire to make even better songs has also welled up, and of course we are thinking of releasing an album this year too, so I am looking forward to it.
-- You also said this at the live concert, but since this is your seventh year, various projects connected to "7" will be carried out.
Yuri Nakamura:At first it was a joke, like, "It would be nice if we could do this kind of project," but once we actually said it, the staff became very cooperative, so now it is very exciting! I have always liked thinking up things, so it is fun to think about many things like this outside music production too. I want to carry out projects that will make the fans happy, and I want them to look forward to those just as they look forward to our works.