By NucleARtyom August 12, 2024

codomomental bulletin #70

If you visit the official Twitter account of KAQRIYOTERROR,¹ you can see that its name has changed to “幽世TERROR.” Does this mean that we can expect a reboot of the group soon? Another intriguing detail is that the account follows Higaminari Yuchiomi (although this may not signify anything in particular).

As promised, here’s a summary of the most interesting moments from the online release event dedicated to the new Seireki13ya album, “metonymy 13 parallel,”² where Nobuhide Imamura detailed the creation of the album and its concept, as well as shared numerous facts about its songs:

The director observed the members and, at some point, realized that it was time for a new album. As you know, it was announced back on March 17 and was initially titled “Comet Trance Sprechchor.” Since this was before Runo’s departure, her presence was naturally expected to significantly influence the album’s content. At that time, only half of the songs were completed. However, the group then went through a shock due to the incident involving Runo’s departure, and Soani joined the group, which naturally had a significant impact on the album’s production. Once the final shape of the album took form, it was decided to change its name to something that better reflected its content. Imamura-san believes that by carefully observing the members, he managed to successfully express the individuality of the current lineup in this album.

“The thing that does not exist, yet it exists — the 13th night” is how the album’s concept is described. According to the director, although Seireki13ya is primarily associated with something cute, the original concept of the group, which he developed together with Kisaragi Megumi, was precisely this phrase — “The thing that does not exist, yet it exists — the 13th night.” An impossible world line. And an album was the ideal medium to fully explore this complex concept, which would have been impossible to achieve with a single, and Imamura-san did his best to take full advantage of this.

Now, regarding the individual songs:

whistle (kuchibue)

Once, Komochi was filming a cover of a song in this room. It was a song from my generation’s band, JUDY AND MARY. At that time, GESSHIRUI and I were having a meeting, we heard it and were like: “Wow!” It was a time when Towa was competing with GESSHIRUI for the best song lyrics. And so, it turned out that Towa left, and the lyrics written by GESSHIRUI became “whistle” (“kuchibue”). Our idea was to make it a song in the style of JUDY AND MARY, during their later period, something like the light songs they occasionally released, like ‘Cheese “PIZZA”’ or ‘Tokidoki.’ These were super hits. And I thought: “It’s been a while since we had something like this. There’s nothing you can hum while walking down the street,” and that’s how this song was born. So, at that moment, I felt it was something fateful. It’s quite an amazing thing.

The song was meant to be a cheerful tune to give people a lift when they were feeling down, and in that regard, it truly served its purpose. Even though it was officially released only after the reboot of Seireki13ya, it was already performed by Komochi in several solo performances after she was left alone in the group. And according to Komochi, it really helped her get through that very tough period. And, according to the director, maybe for some listeners, this song is associated only with the painful memories of that time, but “if it weren’t for it, I would have left, and maybe Komochi would have too.” So, in this regard, it became a very important song for the group, bridging the gap between the past “Seireki” and the present. The director (with Komochi’s blessing) intends to slap those who turn their noses up at it.

Aster Asterism

As the group’s fans know well, this song was originally titled “yocto asterism,” released as a single and included in the group’s first album. Since it was a song that represented the then-current lineup of the group, it wasn’t performed live for a considerable time after Seireki13ya’s reboot. Later, it was reborn as “exa asterism” (you can read about it here), and the updated Seireki13ya performed it for the first time on the first day of the micro pupil ambitious tour (December 22). A limited pre-listening of the song was held shortly thereafter. Imamura-san was inspired to give this song a second life by the efforts of Urari and Minai (and, of course, Komochi’s tireless dedication). The decision not to completely rewrite the lyrics, keeping references to the original members of the group, was made from the start. Additionally, according to Minai, when the reference to her constellation became part of the lyrics of “exa asterism,” she fully realized herself as a member of Seireki13ya.

MAHOROBA HEAVY

The director reminded everyone that each member of the group serves as a muse for specific songs. That is, Seireki13ya’s songs always have a foundation based on the image of one of the members. For “MAHOROBA HEAVY,” the muses were Minai and Komochi (although this doesn’t mean that the images of Urari and Soani didn’t influence this song at all). Imamura-san notes that an important event preceding the creation of this song was a moment when Minai finally fully opened up to the other members. There was a moment when they truly became close friends (unfortunately, no one could remember exactly what it was).

Before that moment, it can’t be said that Minai wasn’t trying at all. But she was kind of… here and there. Not that she did anything wrong, not at all. It just gave the impression that she was like a leaf in the wind, floating this way and that. But around the time I started thinking about this song, Minai somehow changed, in a good way. And this change forms the basis of the song’s image. I decided that I wanted to make the song reflect this.

Additionally, when discussing this song, the director points out that it’s filled with words that had never been used before in Seireki13ya’s lyrics. Emphasizing its role in the group’s discography, he noted that while emotionality plays a significant role in many Seireki13ya songs, in this song, he deliberately tried to minimize the emotional intensity.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Imamura-san had to skip discussing “Two people sharing” (“Futarijime”), “Past Time Link,” and “Sweetie Charm,” leaving their stories to be told another time by their respective authors — Urari and Komochi (although they already discussed these songs at the previous release event).

One by One/Hitori Hitotsu

As a song, it was created as an album track, so I did something that could only be expressed within the context of this album. Something that couldn’t have been written for another album, or something that shouldn’t be written for a lead track. Or rather, it’s not that it shouldn’t be written, but it’s something that almost never appears in the group’s lyrics. For example, there are some slightly philosophical moments, all presented through the lens of something cool, cute, and danceable — that’s what I think we achieved.
You could say I approached it in the same vein as “Noisy.” I anticipated that this song would become a favorite for many on the album, even though it’s not the lead track.”

Future Perfect

The decision to write certain parts of the song in English wasn’t just a stylistic choice.

Yui Urari: When it comes to the English parts of “Future Perfect,” when I found out their meaning, I felt that it was too much.
Nobuhide Imamura: I thought you’d say that!
Yui Urari: So, I’m glad they’re written in English.
Nobuhide Imamura: Yes, surprisingly, if they were written in Japanese, you might not have been able to sing them.
Yui Urari: Yes, and there are things that are sometimes difficult to fully convey in words, aren’t there?
Nobuhide Imamura: Absolutely!
Yui Urari: And by expressing it in English, I feel like we can communicate those things to a much larger audience.
Nobuhide Imamura: As Urari said, I wanted to create a song where you could say something that would be too much to say in Japanese, something you might not dare to say yourself.

The fact that English worked well with the song’s melody also played a role. Another aspect of working on “Future Perfect” was that, while the members usually work on expressing their parts individually, striving to infuse them with their own personality, this time the girls consulted a lot with the staff about how to express the English parts of the lyrics, and it felt like they reached the final result through a collaborative effort.
And according to the director, in this song, he tried to bring Urari and Minai more to the forefront because, considering Komochi’s tenure in the group, they sometimes might unintentionally fade into the background. He even calls it the song of Urari and Minai.

Pastelphose (metonymy 13 parallel Ver.)

Imamura-san noted that although this song was written before Urari joined the group, its concept (“when girls fall in love, they can transform”) fits her image very well since she loves the mahou shoujo anime PreCure, which is about girls transforming into warriors.

Grim.

First and foremost, the director emphasizes that in the past, he always avoided creating anything like this within Seireki13ya. This is a song that came into being thanks to Yui Urari.

Nobuhide Imamura: “Grim.” ends on a rather dark note, creating the feeling that we are being offered a choice: “to overthrow the sun or those stars.” After all, it’s fiction. Of course, it’s fiction, it’s definitely not non-fiction. Tracks like “Grim.” I consider to be a continuation of Seireki’s emotional songs with fantasy elements, like “Romantic Escape.” Yes. However, we never managed to make such songs convincing before. For example, if it were just Minai, it wouldn’t have been convincing enough, or if it were just Komochi, it wouldn’t have been enough either. There has to be this kind of fantasy-like credibility. Although fantasy is fiction, and it usually doesn’t need credibility. But, how to put it, there needed to be a sense that it’s not just fiction, but something more? It’s very difficult to express in words, but without Urari, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this. And this is also the kind of song that could only find its place in an album, not as a single.
When you put together a live set, adding various elements makes it more interesting for the audience, doesn’t it? When you see that it’s not just fun, not just cuteness or coolness, to put it simply, I think that’s what gives everything greater depth. And previously, “Seireki” couldn’t do that, but now we can create such songs, and I’m very happy about that.
Of course, I love how the group was before, but now, when each member has developed a much more expressive image, I feel that “Seireki” has become more human. There’s nothing to complain about at all.

Yui Urari: When I first read the lyrics of the song, it was so scary that I couldn’t hold back my voice, I liked it so much, and I couldn’t stop trembling. The world it creates is just magnificent; I love it so much. And also, there’s a line in the lyrics, “Please don’t take away the hopes and dreams I hold onto,” which I sing, and it sounds like a phrase from this fantastical story, but at the same time, there’s something real in it. And I really like that.

Nobuhide Imamura: Yeah. How should I put it, this song was created after the incident with Runo. And I’m not trying to say that Runo was bad, just that, how should I say, there are such unpleasant systems in life. Especially in our time, in the world of the internet, where people often criticize each other, even when it’s not their business. I understand that it’s just the times we live in, and I’m not saying it’s good or bad. But this happens, and because of it, we definitely lose something.
When I was working on this song, I wondered, “How many times will ‘Seireki’ be able to perform this song?” Usually, you try not to think about that. After all, you want to stay together with everyone for as long as possible. But still, you have to take reality into account, because there’s no guarantee that such a day will never come. So, on the one hand, I want this song to remain a fantasy, and on the other, I want it to make us think. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a kind of album filled with “a middle-aged man’s overcomplicated things” that I want you to think about with these songs. And this is an appeal not only to the fans but to society as a whole, and I tried to present it all through the lens of “Seireki.”
“It has a strangely pleasing fear” — I’m so glad you say that! And yes, for especially emotional people like Urari, it’s sure to be impactful. I myself, working on it, thought, “Wow, this really touches the soul.” That’s why I deliberately chose such a title for it.
Overall, speaking of this album, as I’ve already said, it’s a “Seireki” album, which I finally wanted to create after being in a somewhat relaxed state, and so I wanted to make something that could be loved for a lifetime. But there’s also something like this, for example, when you love BUMP OF CHICKEN for having that one specific song. It’s like it’s an important addition to the overall picture for you, and so you never stop loving the band. That kind of song, which perhaps not everyone will like — that’s what I wanted to make out of “Grim.” So now, when on streaming services everyone can listen to any songs they want as many times as they want, I don’t think anyone will listen to this song a hundred times. But I hope it will become a song that someone can listen to once a year or half a year, on that evening or morning when they’re feeling especially down. And by making it the closing song of the album, I hoped it could add some kind of strange conviction to it.
Well, I don’t know how many times we’ll be able to perform it at concerts, but I consider it a very important song for us.

Below, I present to you the translation of the first Seireki13ya livestream featuring Kiri Soani.³ The girls talk about how their debut concert with the new lineup went, share their impressions, introduce their new companion, and express the hopes and aspirations they have for the future of the renewed group. The video also features a lot of very funny moments and provides an excellent glimpse into the current chemistry within the group:

Unfortunately, Soani is once again unable to participate in the group’s activities for certain reasons. Let’s hope she returns soon.

On August 7th, the long-awaited EP by TOKYO TEFUTEFU, “IIIIly,” was released, containing the members’ solo songs. The release featured a couple of new authors who hadn’t written songs for the group before. Specifically, “eclipse” and “Nil∴” were written by DAIKI, a member of the band Made in Me., and “Irreversible” was written by 451 (also known as Yokoi Takayuki), a guitarist who had previously collaborated with codomomental only as a performer. “Nocturne -GASHIKI-” was written by syva. As for “can you hear ‘A’ me,” it was also written by DAIKI. The lyrics for all the songs were written by GESSHIRUI.⁴

The long-awaited solo songs.
A disc that embodies the souls of the four of us.⁵

The solo song I’ve dreamed of — I can’t believe this day has come.
I’m so happy.
The feelings hidden in each of our hearts, the words that can only be conveyed to you through singing. Feel our souls within them.⁶

From Yuzuriha Ouhi’s Twitter.

Three and a half years, companions who have chosen to continue living here, the strength that embraces everything, including suffering and pain, the feelings of the four of us that seem to overflow. This is a disc that is incredibly dear to my heart.⁷

From Mary Lust’s Twitter.

A song into which I poured my entire soul, all my feelings, and love over these three years. Encased in a form that will forever remain in reality, may it reach you.ᐟ.ᐟ⁸

Each of the solo songs is memorable and resonates in the heart only because so many feelings have been poured into them. These are songs so dear to my heart that I’m ready to cry. I sang to reach you. It’s like an expression of my resolve to keep singing here. A promise.⁹

The fact that I, who was nobody, can now sing on stage even alone, is all thanks to your love. It’s because you shower me with love! What always lifts me up — me, who is constantly afraid and barely ready to give up — is you.¹⁰

From Chimura Shifumi’s Twitter.

May the love of the four of us reach you.¹¹

This is an album overflowing with our love, our dreams, and our innermost feelingsっ ̫ -˘
As soon as you listen, you’ll understand. This is a promise. With a big love, let’s draw a dream, okay?¹²

From Kagari Kohaku Sekai’s Twitter.

A few facts from the recent livestream dedicated to the release:¹³

Initially, Chimura Shifumi’s solo song was supposed to feature a guest vocalist.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai’s solo song is meant to showcase her hidden rebellious nature (“I’m actually a rebel,” as she sings in “Butterfly-Hi”).
Including the group’s cover/interpretation of Kodama Ema’s song “can you hear ‘A’ me” in the release was a late decision and wasn’t originally planned.
The “∴” in Mary Lust’s solo song title “Nil∴” is a mathematical symbol meaning “therefore.” Thus, the title implies something like “Zero, and therefore…”

If you purchase 10,000 yen or more worth of goods during the online sales, which will run in parallel with the online release events dedicated to the EP, you will receive a demo version of Tokanai Nonno’s solo song “Fortunetune.”¹⁴ It can be said with certainty that this exclusive opportunity will not come again. The next online release events are scheduled for August 24 and 29 (8:00 PM Japan time).

Meanwhile, the group’s releases on streaming services periodically appear in the top charts of foreign countries. For example, the song “siscatharsis” recently made it into the top J-Pop songs in Romania.¹⁵

Thank you for listening to TOKYO TEFUTEFU all over the world🥀¹⁶

From Yuzuriha Ouhi’s Twitter.

Knowing that there are people who listen to TOKYO TEFUTEFU, even from so far away, makes me feel like I’m not alone☺︎︎︎︎¹⁷

From Mary Lust’s Twitter.

Romania (ᐢ ̫ᐢ)
Thank you!
We are very happy that you are listening to our music!¹⁸

From Chimura Shifumi’s Twitter.

On August 14, Zenbu Kimi no Sei da’s first single with the current lineup will be released, and its international title has already been revealed: “Lotus Flower Cosmetics.” The digital edition of the release will contain only the lead track, while the physical edition will also include re-recorded versions of “Neojealous Melochaos” and “TadaKimiTo.”¹⁹ The lead song was written and arranged by YuuKankaku, a Vocaloid producer, under the supervision of mikitoP (who wrote “Heavenlyheaven” and “ICE CREAM REBEL” for the group), with lyrics by GESSHRUI.²⁰

Meanwhile, futatsuna has added a new song to their repertoire.²¹

GESSHIRUI, the tireless lyricist of codomomental, has started a text blog, and below I present to you his first post. It’s so interesting and substantial that I couldn’t resist translating it. The author discusses what motivated him to take this step, the changes he’s recently undergone, as well as some fascinating facts and behind-the-scenes details about the latest codomomental releases. This provides a valuable opportunity to gain new perspectives on them and uncover even more significance and meaning:

I want to sleep, illuminated by the light of garbage.

It feels as if I’m drifting in this world, clinging to the information I receive through my eyes, like a picture of dynamic ideas based on someone somewhere, and to the information I receive through my ears—even the sounds of the wind and city noise. My name is GESSHIRUI, and I call myself a lyricist.

My job is to create song lyrics, dozens each year. And sometimes I do other things as well. I do what AI could do instantly, but I spend a lot of time on it. Right now. That’s my job. Speaking of my motivation, I recently had an epiphany about what motivates me the most. What matters most to me is that in the course of our work, we create works that remain in this world, so sometimes I think there’s no real need to leave notes in places like this. But sometimes, I also feel that if I want to write something, I should just do it without worrying about anything. That’s how I ended up here. Although I’m not capable of getting attached to specific places and might close this blog on a whim, if it feels comfortable here, perhaps I’ll stay.

Mid-2024, unbearable heat. Lately, I’ve noticed (as if evaluating someone else, not myself) that I’ve started working as I used to. Of course, I’m involved in almost all the projects. Before this, around 2020, about four years ago, even though I was creating works, I stopped understanding what I wanted to create. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the work or didn’t want to do it. I’m here because I want to be, both then and now. I just had the feeling that I wasn’t really there in it. For the most part, I write songs for girl groups, and if I think about it now, maybe it’s no surprise that I started feeling that way. At that time, I was in a strange cycle and couldn’t analyze myself.

And honestly, the fact that I’m now repeatedly feeling the urge to write something seems interesting or rather strange, even to me.

Although I mentioned above that it happened suddenly, in reality, I just started listening to music. I mean, it’s not that I wasn’t listening to music at all—I was just thinking too much and didn’t have time to listen to anything. It sounds pretentious, but it’s true. Another reason is that I didn’t want to create my works under the influence of something else. I won’t succumb to influence; I don’t want to be influenced—this is something I feel toward the songs themselves, although it might sound disrespectful to the performers. Speaking of my recent works:

futatsuna — “reimei”
Seireki13ya — “metonymy 13 parallel”
Not Secured, Loose Ends — “GENESIS”
TOKYO TEFUTEFU — “IIIIly”
Zenbu Kimi no Sei da — “Lotus Flower Cosmetics”

The singles “IIIIly” by TOKYO TEFUTEFU and “Lotus Flower Cosmetics” by Zenbu Kimi no Sei da will be released on August 7 and 14, respectively, and will be available on streaming services. Well, while working on these projects, I felt this strange creative urge. That’s why I’m writing this text now.

I want to talk in detail about my feelings regarding each work. This platform allows for paid content, right? Money is important, of course, but it’s equally important to give people who are interested the chance to access it. Free access has its advantages, but there’s a risk that something might offend someone, and so it seems to me that restricted access makes sense. After all, there are people who nitpick words and deliberately spread vile malice.

Let’s get back to the topic. Among the latest works, “metonymy 13 parallel,” “GENESIS,” “IIIIly,” and “Lotus Flower Cosmetics” had a particularly strong impact on me. It might sound strange since I wrote them myself, but that’s genuinely how I feel. All of these works were a breath of fresh air for me, especially the singles from NSLE and Zenbu Kimi no Sei da. To avoid any misunderstandings about “reimei” by futatsuna (I want to save this part for a paid article), I’ll say that the futatsuna project began (now it’s starting to change) with the producer being determined to encourage the growth of Chimura Shifumi, so I tried to ensure that the new works would be a continuation of everything that came before. But this only pertains to the foundational aspects of the musical works, not the group as a whole. After all, artists cannot escape their past, and they build their future based on it. This is an unchanging fact, no matter where you are. So while it may seem that “reimei” by futatsuna is something new, in reality, I preserved the essential foundations. And that’s why this song is evolving and will continue to evolve. One day, it will undoubtedly complete its mission, and the current members of the group, including Chimura Shifumi herself, will give it a new mission. Fans have probably already noticed how this is happening. It’s intriguing, isn’t it?

As for NSLE, I perceive it as a new group that has embarked on a journey with new members led by Mei Yui Mei. It was refreshing and fun. Really fun. And I was glad. It sounds silly, like I have no vocabulary, but that’s how I actually feel. First of all, I want to express my gratitude to syva, the amazing author, musician, and sound engineer who wrote this song. And, of course, thanks to Mei Yui Mei, Higaminari Yuchiomi, Yuzuriha Ouhi, and Kisaragi Megumi for giving me the opportunity to enjoy something new. I haven’t stopped listening to “GENESIS” since its release.

“Lotus Flower Cosmetics” by Zenbu Kimi no Sei da was both a painful and delightful experience. But when I finished, I simply fell in love with this song. During this journey that began in 2015, many different people came and went in the group, but in the end, on March 15, 2023, Kisaragi Megumi, Motochika Kasane, Mei Yui Mei, Kotetsu, and Nene Komochi led us all to this place—Nippon Budokan—and I’m very grateful to them for that. And in the new journey, Muku and Hino Hikari have joined Megumi, Mei, and Komochi, and I hope we have many more exciting adventures ahead of us. I’ll write more about this song later.

The work that gave me a bit of courage was “IIIIly” by TOKYO TEFUTEFU. Whether you understand this or not doesn’t matter, but still, when something happens, I, just like all the other fans, experience very complex emotions. Absolutely the same. The members of TOKYO TEFUTEFU have spent a lot of time together building the group, and the producer, who took a short break, has also regained strength—or you could say, has come to his senses—and started actively creating many works. One of these works was this collection of solo songs. I’ll write more later about the songs themselves, but let me touch on something else. The first song I wrote for this release was “Irreversible” by Chimura Shifumi. 451 and the producer cheerfully hummed the melody while working on the track. 451 had many talents from the beginning, but both before this and now, he primarily focused on performance. And this song became something that fully reflected his feelings and talent. The plot came together instantly, and then I wrote the lyrics (more on this later). After that, there was Tokanai Nonno’s song (who is no longer with us), then Mary Lust’s “Nil∴,” Yuzuriha Ouhi’s “Nocturne -GASHIKI-,” and Kagari Kohaku Sekai’s “eclipse.” The authors of these songs are DAIKI, syva, and 451.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai once told me that she always dreamed of me writing lyrics for her solo song, though at the time, I took it as a formal politeness. I’m a bit of a difficult person, so in that moment, I simply thought something like, “Tha-anks, glad to hear you say that…” Whether it was formal politeness or not, it’s easy to understand just by listening to the song. Thank you so much to all of you for singing with such seriousness and for approaching the song and lyrics with great care. Your singing was the highest praise for me. And it made me very happy. Also, I cried a lot. I don’t write lyrics with the goal of making everyone empathize with them, but to some extent, I write them only for the performers. And since writing with the performers in mind and pouring an absurd amount of emotion into the lyrics is part of my style, I thought about these performers a lot and cried a lot. And all their solo songs were truly distinguished by their amazing performances; they turned out to be really incredible works, and I’m very happy about that. They’re being released tomorrow, and many of you have probably already received the CDs, right? I want you to listen to them a lot. And above all, please shower these performers with great love. A dangerous moment was working on Mary Lust’s song. I was writing lyrics to DAIKI’s music, which I adore, but I also related it too much to myself, and it was dangerous, I was on the brink of death. Of course, this is a song about Mary Lust, it’s Mary Lust’s song and no one else’s, but I selfishly found many parts in it that I could sympathize with, and that was a deadly danger.

And, of course, later on, I will definitely write about “metonymy 13 parallel” by Seireki13ya, led by Nene Komochi. I was happy just with the fact that I was able to create a third album with her, and since I had been watching her growth from the closest distance all this time, my emotions were especially strong. I think there was a lot said about the album at the release events, so I’d like to talk about it from a different angle, but what left a particularly deep impression on me was working on the last song — “Grim.”, a work by Hayashi Takahiro. So to speak, the emotional placement or presentation — I was able to express something that was previously impossible, and it’s all thanks to Yui Urari, Yowa Minai, and Kiri Soani. Thank you.

Just by writing down my thoughts like this, I’ve already written quite a large amount of text. I started this because I wanted to talk more deeply about my works in a secluded place, so maybe this is exactly what I need. I’m even a bit excited about the idea of writing about my works. On X (formerly Twitter), there are too many unfamiliar people now, and I lost interest, so I deleted my account. But now I plan to publish my writings in this format, to be able to talk about my works in a secluded place. So, if you’re interested, I’d be glad if you’d read it.

In our time of social media, there’s a lot being said and a lot happening around. Even if you don’t want to see something, you sometimes come across it anyway. It all reminds me of garbage. The good, the bad, and even myself — all of it is part of it. But the only light I see is the opportunity to create what I love with the people I love, in the way that I love. That is my only light. What will surprise me about these people’s singing this time? How will they perform their songs, and how will they present them at the concert? Just imagining that fills me with the strength to create new works. And also — seeing the smiles and tears of those who love these people. And I want to fall asleep every night, embracing this feeling of happiness. I want the fleeting moments of my scarce sleep to be filled only with this light. Such sweet thoughts inadvertently come to my mind. Such dreams I can’t help but imagine.²²