Nobuhide Imamura & GESSHIRUI – “We all have different values and feelings, and they should be different”(August 2020)

Good evening everyone, Imamura here.

Today’s topic is “paradox soar”, Yukueshirezutsurezure’s third album. Let’s talk about it.

On the 26th, we were able to successfully release Yukueshirezutsurezurezure’s third album. I think everyone is tired of my endless musings, so this will be a text, but I decided to call GESSHIRUI and write an article in the form of a conversation with him.

– So, GESSHIRUI, thank you for your work. Today, as part of a rather rare (?) – it’s not like we’ve done this before – blog article, I decided to have a kind of conversation.

GESSHIRUI: Thank you. Yes, we haven’t. I’m far from being a public person myself, let alone a media person. I mean, you know that (laughs). I immediately thought it was strange, because it’s such a busy time – I’m not a stranger and I can see everything, and here: “Let’s go out for dinner”, I wonder what it could be, and then this… We’re sitting in a pub and there’s a taperolling around.

– Come on, you can afford that sometimes (laughs). So how have you been doing lately?

GESSHIRUI: How am I (laughs)? You already know everything (laughs). But yeah, I don’t know how many people will read this, but for the few who will be interested, I have to pay my respects and say, to make it clear: For a while the work is over and now a fleeting moment of silence… Something like that.

– Yep. Things have changed drastically in the world there because of the coronavirus, but we’re pretty much still making new music, aren’t we?

GESSHIRUI: We are. Yeah. We still do. The fact that we’re still putting out releases as if nothing had happened, it’s kind of crazy… I would like to limit myself a little bit, to be honest. But yeah, that’s how the director is, so I don’t know if it’s right or not, but the bottom line is that I’m still working on music. I haven’t counted, but if you count the stuff that hasn’t been released yet, I’ve worked on about forty songs, and that’s just this year.

– Huh? So, whether it’s coronavirus or whatever, don’t you want to hear new music from our girls?

GESSHIRUI: Don’t look at me with those shining eyes, it’s annoying (laughs). In the middle of the night or in the morning. You text me in LINE: “DEMO IS COMING!!!” like it’s the order of the day, and it always is. Enough is enough, you have to admit that this isn’t normal. Not everyone in this world will be happy that a new demo has arrived!

– No, of course I’m excited (laughs)! Of course I’m excited and of course I want you to write the lyrics fast (laughs). Okay, that’s not the point! Today I want to talk about the new “Tsurezure” album!

GESSHIRUI: It’s absolutely not normal… Well, congratulations on the release of the new “Tsurezure” album. My heartfelt congratulations to Komachi, Mei, Kotetsu, and Takara. Still, I’m certainly happy about the release, I’m just saying that it would be worth limiting ourselves a little bit.

– There you go! I didn’t think it through this time. In the case of “Tsurezure”, I tend to come up with something conceptual every time. I direct the making of albums by clearly imagining them in my head, but this time I involuntarily wanted to capture the “present” in this work.

GESSHIRUI: I see. In that sense, we don’t have meetings when we get to work. And the production starts with the writers getting an idea of what you have in mind. And I’ve always thought that if you start talking about it in detail beforehand, we’re bound to end up with something boring. I’m obviously convinced of that every time we make a new release. More than once I’ve caught myself thinking, “Eh, it’s a good thing I didn’t ask.”

– Really? But everybody understands everything without any explanations, so there is no problem, ever (laughs). I mean, we discuss some songs very intensely, but the big picture, I think, even if I try to explain it, it will be different in some way, so I don’t do that (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: I think the beauty of this approach was particularly evident this time. When I listened to the master disc from the first track to the last track, I immediately thought, “Yes, that’s it”. Even when you want to disagree with something, you involuntarily agree. I think it’s a very convincing piece of work. But you probably know this, but actually I wanted to stop writing lyrics for a while before I took this job.

– Yes, you said that.

GESSHIRUI: Yeah. I can’t remember how many lyrics I’ve written for codomomental, but I feel like it’s about two hundred. Writing lyrics is a lot of fun and painful at the same time, but they give me the best conditions every time, and in relation to the authors I also every time allow myself to say selfish things like that I can’t write except for their (codomomental people’s) music, which is unheard of for a lyricist, but they still listen to me. So everybody works hard and there are times when I write something and I’m like, “Hmm?” That was right after I wrote “Wish/”.

– “Wish/”, the title song of the album, which also had a music video made for it.

GESSHIRUI: Yeah. Actually, I wrote “Wish/” quite a long time ago. And I kept doubting whether I should have written it at all. I started with the words of the chorus: “Kimi ga Moshi…” I don’t remember anything else. By the time I came to my senses, it was done. Normally, I always reread the lyrics and check how they fit with the music. But this time I didn’t do that and sent it to the director.

– Yes. And I replied that I was stunned at the same second.

GESSHIRUI: Yes. That’s what you said. In general, when I write lyrics, I try not to think about what stage of development the artists are at. I want to think within the framework of each song. But even though I tried not to think about it, I guess somewhere I had the thought, “What if now?” Like, they could probably reach out to somebody right now. And then I listened to “REDERA,” the lyrics Shounen ga Milc had written shortly before, and tears came to my eyes: “How free she is.” I had always sincerely admired her lyrics and was simply amazed at the freedom of her essence and expressiveness. I hadn’t even thought of reaching the same level, and I always seemed to realize that I couldn’t keep up with her, but I was involuntarily overwhelmed by that feeling of freedom.

– Sincerely.

GESSHIRUI: I guess so. I guess it just came together. Because when you create something, you start with an empty space and fill it with something. And when I wrote “Wish/”, I wanted to represent the “empty space” as I felt it. After all, it was supposed to be filled by the members. I think it was a very beautiful work, but when I saw how freely she portrayed even that empty space, I was amazed, I had no words. Except that if I kept my mouth shut, the demos would pile up on me one by one, and besides, I believe in the whole thing myself and I wouldn’t have any doubts at all, so I would involuntarily listen. And after that it’s already…

– Yeah (laughs). Like, “That’s it!” Uh, just to change the subject a little bit, but this time Megumi and Mashiro also participated in writing the lyrics. What do you think about that?

GESSHIRUI: I’m really happy. I’m very happy. Megumi and I have worked together a lot since the old days, and she’s really a strange girl (laughs), so when I work with her, I often think, “Wow, that’s how it is. The scenes that come out in her head are probably very colorful. She can make a deep impression with just one word, often out of the blue. And the “memento” she wrote this time is also wonderful. And on the other hand, “VARITAS” by Mashi, it’s just, well, Mashi (laughs). Lyrics are such a thing, after all, that there is no right or wrong, no good or bad. And the essence of Mashi, I would say, is in many ways similar to the essence of the director, even though she may not like it herself (laughs), but “Love is cool”, you know? You can feel that she has no doubts about love, that it is the most important thing for her. And that’s something that not everybody can do, because everybody is usually much more self-doubting. She has put such complicated words into her lyrics, and the fact that the members can sing them without any difficulty really means that she understands them much better. Their abilities have multiplied because of this song, and as a stand-alone song, it leaves a very clear sense of completion. It all gives a full sense of the kind of artists these two have become.

– It’s all very satisfying. Okay, let’s talk more about the album. I’ll ask about everything, but first, was there anything in the new songs that stood out to you?

GESSHIRUI: Of course there was with all of them, but, um… “Grotesque promise and I really hate me” had off a very fresh feeling. First of all, it was my first introduction to Eisei-kun.

– Yup.

GESSHIRUI: But the director’s personality is such that he never compromises, especially with the music. It’s just uncanny. If he doesn’t like something, he won’t release it, even if it’s already scheduled for release. And so, without even really introducing the person, he shows me this: “Here!” and I was like, “Nah, who is he?” (laughs), but I was like, okay, I’ll listen to it, and I thought, “Yeah, so you recognized him,” and so I started writing. That was the last song that I wrote for the album. And while I was working on it, there was something that just wouldn’t get out of my head. I wanted Mei Yui Mei and Komachi to say the word “grotesque”. But there were no songs to do it in. So when I heard the chorus of this song, I immediately thought, “Yes, this is it”.

– I mean, this song is not the kind of song that starts to develop in the chorus. It’s more like one where the chorus is kind of soothing with simple words.

GESSHIRUI: Yeah. And I thought, since the chorus has such a melody, I want to make an impression with the words. But not with the first phrase. But with the second: “Hora Mite, Grotesque Nano” (“Come on, look, this is the grotesque”). That was the moment when I felt really happy that I was able to work on this album. I don’t know what the listeners felt, but all my work is an accumulation of some kind of subtle things, some kind of fetishes. And in the second half of the story, in the last part of the song, there’s a beautiful melody. And there’s this line, “Yakusoku wa Hakike ga Suru ne? Itsu Yurushite, Mata Yurushite, Kiri ga Nai Jigoku ne, Damatte Ite” (“The promise is so disgusting, isn’t it? One day forgive me, forgive me again, it’s such an endless hell, just be quiet”). And that’s an incredibly important point for me. The director decides who sings which lines, so I usually rely on him, but when I heard the finished version, I just shuddered. It was sung by Kotetsu. I think whoever sang it probably wouldn’t have been what I had in mind, but I got a full sense of what an incredible job they did on the recording.

– You wrote a lot on LINE at that time, didn’t you (laughs)?

GESSHIRUI: I’m even embarrassed (laughs)… How should I say it, it’s just that there are very important phrases in the lyrics for me, and it doesn’t often happen that everything turns out exactly as I intended. In a way, I wanted to show the most grotesque moment for an author in this sentence – after all, this also applies to Komachi, who is the muse of the group, but here I wanted to express a restlessness of the heart, a kind of divergence from one’s own feelings. That people can’t fully come to terms with themselves is a very important feeling for me, and that’s why it came out here, and just by expressing it so beautifully, I was already immensely impressed. That I was even ready to say, “I’m not taking the money…”

– Put it in writing: “I won’t take the money” (laughs). Yeah, by the way, I told Kote-chan about that. And she said that was her favorite part, too. And I made sure it was understandable. But Kote-chan said: “I wanted to say ‘grotesque’ too~,” and I thought, “Oh man!” (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: I see (laughs). Well, there are only three choruses in the song, so it’s complicated. But of course I’m probably boring everyone by talking about the last part, but still, it was able to come out the way it did because Komachi sang the introductory part. Because one chorus was sung by Mei. Because Takara sang the final chorus. I’m starting to sound loopy here, but I’m glad we made this song with the four of them.

– Yeah, it turned out to be a great song. What about the others?

GESSHIRUI: “VERITAS” and “memento” weren’t written by me, so I can’t say anything about them, but from what I wrote, “howling hollow” obviously made a deep impression on me.

– And why is that?

GESSHIRUI: I realized that I could work with my favorite genre. In terms of music, it’s that kind of oppressive rock ballad. codomomental has a lot of songs in that style that I really like. For example, “Kimi no Naka de Shinda Boku no Yuuutsu” by syam, “CURTAIN CALL” by Shounen ga Milc, the “C”A”RTAIN CALL” by Mashiro, MAOA2R songs. In terms of sound, it’s not to say that “Tsurezure” didn’t have something like that before, but it definitely didn’t have that kind of feeling. When I listened to Syva-kun’s demo, before the chorus, in the middle of the intro and the ending, there was this refrain, an arpeggiated guitar phrase, and it was so beautiful. And I thought, “Who else but “Tsurezure” could express that kind of beauty with a touch of oppressiveness? I wanted to make this song so that it would sound both in the “present Tsurezure” and in the “past Tsurezure”, so that it would touch both of those worlds. So in that sense, I tried to make the lyrics express the essence of the Yukueshirezutsurezure world like nothing else.

– That was the first thing I thought of when I read the lyrics.

GESSHIRUI: I’m glad. It’s very important to evolve and change, otherwise an artist’s activity becomes meaningless. But even in all this, you want there to be something unchangeable, as the director and Syva-kun themselves often say. I wanted to embody that in the song, and even if we ignore the lyrics, the members were able to express that world beautifully.

– I also thought it was unusual that the chorus began with English words.

GESSHIRUI: That was intentional. And all those words are very familiar to the Japanese people. I’d say I was really happy to use them. I couldn’t do it before because it seemed like a fake “coolness”. That would probably be a weird explanation, but I would say that Syva-kun pointed me in the right direction, and that’s amazing. And there’s the phrase “Another?” in the last scream, but to get to that point, the last chorus plays a very important role. That phrase was really important to me. I also wanted Komachi to sing the part with “Requiem Yori” (“From Requiem”). It was a requiem for the “Tsurezure” members of the debut song “KyosokaIchinari” who were letting go of their past selves. Like, “Some time has passed since then, and this world is still disgusting, but I can still look forward at least a little, I can still cry even if you’re not around.

– There has to be an important song in the middle of an album. And this time I put that song right in the middle. In fact, I started to decide the order of the songs on the album and I thought, “Well, what a beautiful song, this is some kind of miracle. That’s how much I got into it. Ah, GESSHIRUI, we’ve said too much already, maybe that’s enough for today?

GESSHIRUI: Uh, okay (laughs).

Good evening everyone, this is Imamura. Today was just a terrible day, I felt incredibly lousy.

I’d like to continue our conversation with GESSHIRUI about the “paradox soar” album.

– Yesterday we stopped at “howling hollow”, but what is your general impression of the album?

GESSHIRUI: I talked about it a little bit yesterday, but I still think it came out as a very convincing work. First of all, it’s because of how convincingly the members performed the songs. As for the direction of the album, I’m starting without knowing anything, so I can’t really imagine what the final product will look like. But I try to treat each song very carefully and try to use all the expressive potential of each song. In that sense, “unison ash” was the first song I wrote for this album. I started working on it at a time when I was having trouble writing lyrics.

– Yes. “unison ash” was the earliest of the new songs on the album, apart from “Wish/”.

GESSHIRUI: Yeah. So there’s an involuntary sense of naughtiness in the lyrics (laughs). When I reread the lyrics, in some places I feel like I shouldn’t have used those words, but there’s a kind of rebellious spirit, like, “Look, this is what poetry is.” And I would say at the moment I’m a little bit ashamed of it. No, of course I like the song as a whole, I just feel like I put a lot of thought into it. But maybe everyone who writes lyrics is like that. First of all, it’s a Hayashi-kun song, and it has a particularly effective riff. It’s so clear that you feel in your gut that it’s a song written by the performer. And when I thought about how to make the most of that riff, I realized that it had to be poetry.

– Of all the songs on the album, this is the one that expresses that the most, isn’t it?

GESSHIRUI: For a long time, the poetry reading was mainly associated with Komachi, and it still is, but that’s partly because there were hardly any songs suitable for it that we could involve other members in. And Hayashi-kun can come up with tunes that just about make it possible. And the bridge melody is like that, and the chorus melody. I kind of imagine the director’s face when he first sent me the song… Like, “Hey, this is really interesting stuff!” – He doesn’t say it directly, but it’s like his thoughts are coming through. So it turned out to be a lyric that was completely imbued with the rebellious spirit. And people are such creatures that they cannot be saved. Nobody says that, but they are. I think they should be saved, but obviously there are enough cases where people die without waiting for it.

– Oh, why do you say that?

GESSHIRUI: But it’s true. After all, we are always alone. I would like to point out that in Yukueshirezutsurezure’s latest songs, there is less and less singing in unison. And I think that’s the point. Everyone knows that words like “I understand you” don’t mean anything, but people still want (“Hoshikute”) sympathy. Want (“Hoshikute”), want (“Hoshikute”). Oh, it’s like “WORLD END CRISIS” (laughs). When I see such a scene somewhere on social media, I get the same feeling, but I still want to cover everything with gray ash…

– Well. Still, I’m glad it was the first song we did for the album. But I was a bit confused. I thought it would be something screaming in the vocal traditions of American hardcore… But it ended up being a poetry reading.

GESSHIRUI: Envy, for example, has this – if you listen to some of their old stuff, they are shouting poetry. So you can’t even hear what they’re saying, but I would say that’s a good thing. In a way I even admire it. A certain sense of how the lyrics merge with the music? Or blend in. Not that it’s a criticism of the way the mix is done in modern J-pop, but there’s a sense of a certain supremacy of the vocals in it that sometimes it even feels like the music isn’t needed. This is certainly an uncharacteristic case, but while evaluating the mix of the song, I found myself thinking more than once that this is clearly none other than Syva-kun. Depending on the section, the mix is quite different. And the way the vocals and music mix. It’s moments like this that give me the feeling that I’ve been understood, that everything is just the way it should be, and it really made me feel good.

– Not bad, sounds like a conversation between musicians (laughs). Okay, let’s talk about the old songs as well. For example, “ssixth”.

GESSHIRUI: GESSHIRUI: Hmm, “ssixth”? There’s a phrase in there that I really hate. The one at the end of the chorus: “Boku to Kimi wa Niteru” (“You and I are alike”).

– You hate it (laughs)?

GESSHIRUI: I hate it. In all seriousness. If it were said to any other person, it would be an unprecedented blasphemy. Whether we’re alike or not, I’m me and you’re you. But “ssixth” is a song all about confronting yourself. So I decided to add that phrase at the end of the chorus, and at its core, “Tsurezure” has enough songs about dialoguing with yourself, but even among all of them, this is a song where you are especially alone. There was this strong straightforwardness in Syva-kun’s demo, and I thought, “Well, finally? Finally we’re going to be alone with ourselves,” and I think people are such that they naturally avoid that. And it’s a masochistic song that demands it. And when I wondered if it’s possible to face yourself while being completely alone, I realized that it’s probably not possible. And the song is based on my fantasy that if you had a sixth sense, it would be nice if it was one that allowed you to do that. The so called “sixth sense”. Like, then it makes sense.

– “Sixth Sense.” I haven’t even told the members about it yet. I think only you and I know about it now (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: GESSHIRUI: And not only in this case, but I think it’s good. Let the intentions be different. There are still many points where people can’t agree. As in the phrase “Noir to Hikari” (“Noir and Light”), it seems to me that the more contradictory ideas and concepts intersect, the more human nature is revealed. And I also love music (laughs).

– Yes, I understand (laughs). Then what do you think about “Odd eye”?

GESSHIRUI: The first thing I thought was that I had been sent something spectacular. I wanted to see what was going on in Syva-kun’s head, it was so strange. Just when I thought it looked like the most hardcore thing ever, I suddenly heard a trap. And I couldn’t contain my surprise: “What? There’s so much of his talent in this song that I’m even willing to say that if there’s a musician out there who can’t appreciate this song, they better quit right now. Also, there’s a little piano phrase that plays in the background of the next section of the song, and it’s also incredibly beautiful. And I thought, “He’s a guitar player, how does he manage to compose that?” So when I was asked to write the lyrics for this song, I was really nervous.

– Nervous (laughs)? And how did you imagine the trap part?

GESSHIRUI: Dissonance? A kind of feeling I wanted to achieve. I really wanted to add the word “shiromuku” (“white kimono”). I mean, “trap” and “white kimono” are very dissonant. And I thought it was just like codomomental in our music industry. Especially “Tsurezure,” even among everything else. A kind of immeasurable quirkiness, beauty and excessive directness. A kind of our own philosophy, that we stay as we are and move forward. And even if some people think it’s silly, let them. And I still like that part very much.

– The chorus phrases are also quite impressive.

GESSHIRUI: The bridge was so beautiful, so I wanted to make an impression. Also, it was a time when I started to feel a kind of power of rhyming melodies and words, and it was a single when Kotetsu and Takara joined the group, so I really wanted to do something avant-garde. In the middle of the chorus, there’s the word “Yume Shibai” (“Dream Theater”), and at first I thought I shouldn’t use a word you hear a lot on TV, but then I thought it should fit Mei. And I’m very happy that Mei got that moment. That’s exactly what I had in mind, dream theater, which is what this song is about. But the eyes are still different colors. We all have different values and feelings, and they should be different. And I thought that it made a lot of sense for a group like Yukueshirezutsurezure to have a song like that.

– I remember being amused that the phrase “Kagi wo Hazushiteoku kara” (“I’ll leave the door open”) was very much in the spirit of “Tsurezure”. So much so that it made me very happy.

GESSHIRUI: Yeah, you can feel it (laughs).

– Okay, I don’t really want to ask anymore, but what about “illCocytus”?

GESSHIRUI: Why is that (laughs)? Because it’s all going to be hard to write later (laughs)?

– Yes (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: Okay, I’ll try to make your job easier (laughs): uh, this world is disgusting, it should burn in hell, screw you all, die, disappear, uh, is it just me? Am I? There are so many strange, disgusting people around, what is this? What is this? Nobody thinks so, and if so, then I’m weird, it’s probably better for me to die, but there are people I love, so I want to live, ah, tired of thinking, in the end, let this world go to hell, but if I’m suddenly reborn, then I guess let it be too, I don’t care. That’s the spirit of Komachi (laughs).

– No!!! Not what I wanted at all!!!!! (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: You should have asked properly (laughs).

– Okay, let’s change the subject. What about “Dear Sorrow”? Yes, come on!

GESSHIRUI: Oh, you want to bring up the subject of an unhappy love story in ten thousand characters? You know how much work we have to do, right?

– No!!! Things are getting too oppressive, and it’s like it’s my fault (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: I told you to ask properly (laughs).

– …Shit… Oh, that’s it! Solo songs! That’s good, right? Come on, tell me about the solo songs (wipes sweat from his brow).

GESSHIRUI: Solo songs… Okay. Mei and Komachi have re-recorded versions from the previous album, so the only new ones this time are by Kotetsu and Takara.

– Yeah. Let’s start with Kote-chan.

GESSHIRUI: You came up with the name “Mezzo Forte,” so I’m grateful for that. I don’t know how many people Kotetsu has saved, but at least I think that without Kotetsu, there wouldn’t be a codomomental anymore. For example, Kotetsu clearly inspires director and the others, and this positivity of hers is natural. The way director decided to bring Kotetsu into the group just for fun is a very strange story, because normally it would never have happened, but she was so direct, so sincere. And how I love the story of how Kotetsu exploded because Takaki-san jokingly said: “I wish I were dead,” I can’t put it into words.

– Yes, there was that (laughs). She’s an amazing person, Kote-chan. I think she is saving the planet.

GESSHIRUI: Yeah, and it’s amazing when people think that about you. And if there’s anyone special in this bunch of troubled people called codomomental, it’s definitely Kotetsu. Because there’s no one else like her! She really is amazing. Also, it’s a lot of fun to follow her journey. She came to the audition because she loved “Tsurezure,” but if you take her favorite member, it’s Kisaragi Megumi from Zenbu Kimi no Sei da. And there was an amazing story. Recently at a place, Kotetsu and Komochi were there, and Megumi was there too – a rookie camp. With people nobody knows yet.

– Oh, you’re going to talk about that too (laughs)?

GESSHIRUI: I can’t?

– No, you can (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: Then I’ll continue. Then in the evening we had a meeting, and at that meeting Komochi said to the newcomers, “Do you like codomomental?” (laughs). The director lowered his eyes, Megumi was surprised (laughs), and the newcomers came to this camp for different reasons, so they were like: “Ah? Yes…” – Of course everybody was surprised. After all, these days, not everything is decided by preference, there may be some personal calculations, and Komochi decided to find out, but right up front. And right after that, Kotetsu asked: “Really~?” And normally, Kotetsu would never say that. But it was her directness, her sincerity, her desire to know the true feelings of people who might become her companions. That’s an intimidating bunch of Kisaragi (laughs). That’s an unprecedented level of directness (laughs).

– Yeah, that happened (laughs). But then I was completely speechless (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: Still, it’s not something you can say as a mature adult. You can’t just say, “Love my company.” But I understand that you want to. But no, it’s her directness. And that directness is so bright that it blinds you (laughs). That’s why I wanted to start the song with the line “Hito no Omoi wa Shinanai” (“People’s feelings won’t die”). There’s a romance to it, right? Besides, Kotetsu sings it with the clear understanding that she is her and people are people. That’s why it sounds so convincing. Besides, she’s such a person that when she loves someone, she’s able to accept everything in that person. She says she’s not interested in other people, but that’s why, if it’s someone she loves, she’ll love them no matter what.

– The lyrics are very direct about that. Really. That’s why the song brings out the most tears.

GESSHIRUI: I’m glad you said that. It’s more like I just took Kotetsu and wrote her.

– What about Takara’s “Arrhythmia”?

GESSHIRUI: Is there another girl who has such a characteristics of a hero? And a mean one, too. It’s like she’s a mixture of white and black. And this trait of hers is incredibly charming. First of all, she should have everything to make a much better life for herself. She might not have gone through all the hardships of being in a women’s group; she would still have been loved and cherished. But she chose to be here.

– The atmosphere of the lyrics is different from all the other songs – is that because you were trying to express those characteristics of her?

GESSHIRUI: I don’t know if I did or not… Mei is the leader, Komachi is the muse, and Takara is the one who can carry the weight on her back. And it’s not just strength, but also grace, and gentleness, and kindness, and a little bit of naughtiness. She’s like you in that way, don’t you think (laughs)?

– Yeah, if I had a daughter, I think she’d be like Takara (laughs).

GESSHIRUI: I understand (laughs). She’s hard to handle, but you can definitely tell that everyone loves her. The perfect youngest of the family. But she’s straightforward and desperate, and the fans follow that vibrancy and sparkle in her. And it’s okay that she’s a little sharp-tongued, it’s okay that she’s a little out of this world, because she doesn’t hesitate to show everyone her back. That was the way I thought about it.

– And why is the song called “Arrhythmia”?

GESSHIRUI: Irregularity (laughs)? But not in a bad way. Completely. When your heart is boiling blood, it’s okay if it’s beating in an irregular rhythm. I would say it’s very human in terms of feelings and everything else. After all, you can’t help but love those human traits of Takara, can you? That’s what I meant.

– I understand (laughs). She’s very, very human. And that’s what makes her so charming. That’s what makes you forgive all her bad antics.

GESSHIRUI: But that’s because she proves it all on stage. That’s why she’s so convincing. But there’s also a shy side to her. And that’s part of her cute charm. So what Takara can say in Japanese, she says in Japanese, and what she is too shy to say in Japanese, she says in English. And in that sense, it was also such a difficult song that she wouldn’t have been able to perform if she hadn’t been growing all the time, so more than any details of the lyrics, I appreciate the fact that she never stopped growing.

– But I brought you in specifically to talk about the details of the lyrics, mind you (laughs). Okay. For a first experience – I don’t think we’ll end up doing anything else like this, but it was fun. Thank you very much. And finally, say something to our readers.

GESSHIRUI: It’s complicated (laughs). But yes, the members of “Tsurezure” are really growing. I want you to come and see with your own eyes. And when you buy the album, if you have some free time, please look at the lyrics as well. If you have some free time. Mashi and Megumi are also growing rapidly as artists and authors, so look forward to their new works as well. Is it okay if I write lyrics sometimes (laughs)? Although I am responsible for almost all the lyrics on the new KAQRIYOTERROR album as well, so I hope you can look forward to that as well… That sounds like some kind of advertisement.

That’s it. The text is done.

Now that I’ve tried to do it myself, I have a great deal of respect for those who have to go through all the trouble with this tape every time. It’s terrible. I was ready to give up halfway through, but I managed to finish it somehow.

“paradox soar”, the third Yukueshirezutsurezure album, turned out to be a beautiful work. Of course, I would like to thank all the fans who support the group, as well as all those who support codomomental. And thank you to those who continue to keep their seats open in such a difficult time. I feel all your support.

I hope you will listen to the album.

Sources:

https://codomomental.com/20-0827/
https://codomomental.com/20-0827-2/