Invited by the scent of cherry blossoms...

This spring, Kagrra went all over the country with Poisonous Doll on their coupling tour "PK Ausen". Making good use of their spare time, they completed recordings of 2 new songs for limited release works! What's the latest news from these guys whose band flavour is going swimmingly?
Now as the best time for seeing the "sakura" flowers has passed by all but the north, they come here to make glamourous flowers bloom again.
―How do you feel about your first nationwide tour being over?
Isshi: It was really fun. When you say 'tour' it comes with a rigorous image, but somehow it was extremely fun.
Izumi: The food though...

―So it was tasty. (laughs)
Isshi: And things like mahjong.
Shin: We even did a bit of sightseeing.
Isshi: There were a lot of places we've been to for the first time, and the guests differed place by place, and it encouraged us. But our biggest encouragement was Poisonous Doll. (laughs)

―You tasted the real pleasure of a coupling tour. (laughs)
Isshi: We defeated their way of talking, right? (laughs)

―Nagoya dialect? (laughs)
Isshi: No, something different. Like Poisonous Doll language. (laughs) It came out at the instore event, and the guests were taken in, it was corny. (wry smile)

―Which reminds me, didn't Isshi collapse after your live on April 8th?
Isshi: That's right. (wry smile) Even though it was spring, I was exhausted by summer heat...
Shin: Akiya was so perplexed. (laughs)
Akiya: Yeah, when we came on stage intending for the encore, I was saying "Isshi is impossible." And then I rushed back, and the two in the rhythm unit had gone on stage. (laughs)
Nao: We were fully motivated. (laughs)
Shin: They were fanning in the middle of the stage. (laughs)
Everyone: (explosive laughter)

―Is that so?
Isshi: But I couldn't move at all. (wry smile) So I couldn't come out for the curtain call, and I was annoyed at myself, but... I was cured after sleeping for a whole day. They worried about me!

―But it was good that it didn't turn into a serious incident. Which reminds me, you were boarding together and recording during the breaks in the tour, right?
Isshi: Yes. How often did we go...
Akiya: We put in around 10 days of pre-programming.
Nao: Surrounded by mountains...
Isshi: We didn't go home at all in March...

―It's good that it wasn't the rainy season right? With no ventilated rooms it can get moldy...
Nao: But it was moldy anyway. (laughs)
Isshi: That's just Nao's room!
Everyone: (laughs)

―Will the 2 tracks you've recorded this time be released as a single?
Isshi: That's right. There'll be a series of 4 works expressing the four seasons. But they'll be limited release by mail order and live venues. We're recording parts for those in April and May.

―Well please tell us about the 2 tracks you finished. First of all, "Genwaku no Joukei" which goes on sale in April?
Shin: I think this evokes an image when I listen to it, with a motif of "snow"...

―Did you play naked in the snow where you were living before?
Isshi: That's just Akiya and Nao and Izumi! (laughs)
Shin: It's not that kind of dirtied snow! (laughs)
Isshi: Wasn't it a figure as beautiful as being born? Even more than being born. (laughs)
Shin: (laughs) It's not that, it's like a woman wearing a kimono and dancing in the snow...
Isshi: If anything, wouldn't that be me?
Shin: No! (laughs) More magical scenery came to mind when writing that track.

―The part that develops into an arpeggio has an image of dancing right?
Shin: That's the kind of perception we'll deliver with this song.
Akiya: This song isn't a ballad, but since it's a relaxed song, we discussed how the guitar distortion isn't too excessive and the feeling of the chord comes out with the two arpeggios. And with this effect it expresses the snow.
Shin: It isn't that the guitar feels loud, but I let in the density of the sound with the synthesizer.
Izumi: While recording and arranging I felt the drums don't disrupt the original melody much. But it didn't come easily. (laughs)
Nao: I was smooth! (laughs)
Izumi: We've always recorded while listening to the bass line, but the bass gets cut partway through this song. (laughs)
Nao: It's cruel! It hurt so much... (painful smile)
Izumi: When you listen to the bass, you don't want the phrase to change partway through. (laughs)

―And the vocals?
Isshi: I was given a difficult assignment again. (wry smile) My singing range is wide! This track made me realize I can go higher. Lately the lyrics have been biased towards love (laughs) but with this one I'm going back to my starting point. The theme is "death" but when people die they'll want to go back to the land where they were born... Since I was born in a snowy land I'm thinking of my hometown... It's a song with a certain real meaning. This work uses 2 types of poetry. While I recall my former self with the poetic surface, those feelings are going around, but it was in the past. While I ask myself, "How was the past, Isshi?" that influences the way I sing, and then my singing range expands.

―Speaking of the theme being 'death', it also has a feeling of the cycle of transmigration doesn't it?
Isshi: Absolutely.

―Well, how about ~Memai~ that released in May?
Akiya: Beyond being my own original melody... (laughs) Usually I put it together tightly, but for this song, I had shamefully only come up with the rhythm and chords the day before. After that everyone arranged it.

―The rhythm of the intro and outro is impressive.
Izumi & Nao: That was difficult!
Izumi: This song's preprogramming was mostly done alongside the recording of the drums for "Genwaku~". (laughs)
Nao: And the bass was recorded separately for this song. (laughs) Though we've done it together before, I thought it was fun to do it alone too.
Izumi: So when you listen to the bass, you just want it to be a phrase that comes together within you. (wry smile)

―I see. This song has a 6/8 tempo...
Shin: Correct. (laughs)
Isshi: It's a new discovery, but this song is certainly "Dizzy!"(*1) Listening to it in a walkman is like "oof"! (laughs)
Akiya: We've certainly made sounds that can give you a bad feeling! (laughs)
Isshi: However, the theme of the lyrics is "homosexual love".
Shin: Is it?
Isshi: Not that everyone can't have their own take on it! (laughs) The hint is from the story of a dollmaker in the underworld talking about jealousy for a fellow girl...
Akiya: ...ah, a fellow girl! Good.
Shin: That's what I thought too! (laughs)

―Because in the lyrics you use the word "anata"(*2) right?
Isshi: Yes! That's right. Since I'm an A-type I fixate on things like that, even though the other members don't notice!! (wry smile) So I'm really happy that you've noticed it now. (laughs) The poetry is pretty adventurous this time. Isn't the presentation risky? Even when I'm singing, I intend to express the feelings of a girl. The girl inside me is strong, but weak on the surface. So I sang it in that way. But, it gives me a terribly bad feeling by the end of it. (laughs)
Shin: We did interesting things without using a synthesizer in this song.
Akiya: We didn't use a synthesizer in this song, the sound effects were done with just the guitars.
Isshi: Thinking in a poetic worldview, it's a song that truly brings out new Kagrra with various meanings.
Akiya: Come to think of it, when we were recording this, my guitar amp broke and wasn't useable anymore, so we urgently borrowed the studio's Marshall, and had a technician somehow substitute the sound. Incredible, right? (laughs) When the amp's vacuum tube broke, we could see a green light.
Shin: We could see the light from the control room too, it was such a strong light.
Akiya: Yeah! And the amp jumped 4 times. (wry smile)

―That was tough wasn't it?
Isshi: Afterward while we were wondering how to express it, a new subject came up... it'll be even more tough at lives. (wry smile)

―From May onward what are Kagrra's activities?
Isshi: Generally, we want to do things that people don't do. Speaking of which, on May 5th we'll have a fanclub exclusive live. It's a oneman, so it won't be like our usual lives, and we're heating up some interesting plans that'll span 2 more months. (laughs) After that, we'll release 1000 copies of the limited "Genwaku no Joukei" single, so be sure to get it and listen to it somehow or other. And we have lives planned for May, June, and July. Since we'll have a new single at the lives each month, everyone please look forward to it!

Notes:
*1 - The song title, Memai (
眩暈) means dizziness/vertigo.
*2 - "Anata" (you) in these lyrics is spelled 貴女 with the kanji for 'woman' instead of the normal kanji 貴方.

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