The following interview is from the August (2002) issue of "J-Groove Magazine."

Garnet Crow
Their new song is filled with a vigor as yet unheard of from the group

--Just when I believed that your current song, "Spiral," sounded like a typically Garnet Crow, gentle ballad, it gradually picked up speed, bursting forth when it reached the chorus. It was almost as if you suddenly shifted into warp-speed, going straight from autumn to summer, bypassing winter and spring. It was quite unexpected, I think.

Nakamura Yuri: This is the first time we've tried to develop a song in such a way. As we just went on doing our thing, it just took shape this way. We tried making it summerish.

Furui Hirohito: We kind of broke the conception that "Garnet equals ballads." But, we agonized over how to make the change from the beginning part.

--But the way in which you accomplished that change was quite new. (laughs)

Nakamura: Kinda like double-the-flavor. (laughs)

Furui: Particularly how, just when you want to listen to the quiet part just a bit longer, it ends.

--And then, the way the song just ends abruptly. That's also fresh.

Nakamura: As if we just left it like that.

Furui: Unfinished. (laughs)

--In addition, there's the message being unveiled within the lyrics.

AZUKI Nana: Yup. Yuri-ppe's melodies always have such a direct way of unfolding, and the sound also had it's own way of unfolding, so it was kind of like we had the lyrics gravitate in that direction. That's why, it felt like I was going along with how the lyrics wanted to be written. This is in a different sense from the usual way, where we're kind of like "The lyrics are there to match Yuri-ppe's voice." It's like, "We're going this way this time." (laughs) That was fun in its own way.

--So, in a sense, it's a new challenge?

AZUKI: I guess it is.

--I guess that brings out a new side to your lyrics. But personally, I thought "In the end, they're still AZUKI-san's lyrics."

AZUKI: Thank you! (laughs)

--Okamoto-san, how did it feel as you were playing the music?

Okamoto Hitoshi: It was fun, but it pretty hard. When there's such an abrupt change of scenery, you also have to learn to make an emotional adjustment.

Furui: It was tough to sing it, too.

Nakamura: That's right! Although I was the one who made it that way. (laughs) But because there's such a difference, it's not so much a matter of making adjustments emotionally, but differentiating between the main verse and the chorus. For the main verse I tried to sing from within myself, while for the chorus, I just cut loose and sang with passion.

Furui: But even though the switch is pretty drastic, I think that it still can sound smooth.

--So rather, you're saying that was what you payed the most attention to in the arrangement?

Furui: I just wanted to make sure it didn't grow dull. It's not just about keeping the speed from dropping, but rather, if the speed drops a bit, it has to come back up, all due to the flow of the melody. I wanted to keep a subtle balance between which sounds to present, and which to hold back. Since I believe that if you can't manage that part skillfully, the melody will fall apart, I was very cautious about that. Especially at the end of the subverse, when the chorus feels as if it's about to burst through, at that moment the verse fades and the chorus starts, I wanted to make the mood take flight. For example, you could say it's like your rhythm when you wake up in the morning. When you wake up and wash your face, you feel refreshed and energetic, and decide to go out to play. (laughs)

--In that sense, it seems to be the more realistic way.

Nakamura: It also feels very timely, with regard to the seasons. It's a song that makes you feel the heat of summer. It seems kind of rare for Garnet, but... it's as if it's a song filled with a vigor as yet unheard of frum us.

--There were some unexpected songs in your second album, as well, but nothing as energetic as this one.

Nakamura: Even we felt as if we haven't had a song that expresses heat. But I guess this song is perfect for summer. There's so much going on during the summer, so listening to it then makes you feel like doing things.

--For example, the main verse expresses the tension before a baseball game starts, and the subverse is as the game is starting...

Nakamura: And the chorus is the homerun!

Furui: Well in that case, for the promotional video, we'll have Okamoto sliding home. (laughs)

Okamoto: Ha, ha, ha.

Furui: But he never reaches home plate. (laughs) "YER OUT!" (laughs)

Nakamura & AZUKI & Okamoto: Ha, ha, ha.

--But I think your image will change in the minds of anyone watching that video! (laughs)

Furui: I guess they'd be pretty upset, huh? (laughs)

Nakamura: Well, the video isn't like that at all, so you can all relax! (laughs) Well, it's a very fun song, so I'd want everyone to just listen to it casually. Like while driving.

AZUKI: In this song's lyrics, there are parts like that where, as I'm writing it, I'm writing without focus, I guess hoping that I can leave it up to the listener, or you could say that I really don't want to inject my own interpretations into it. And conversely, I might have been able to do just that with this song.

--I think that to a certain extent, there are points where the "typically Garnet" portion can be felt, so I guess you can successfully make such a playful song.

Furui: Kind of like, "I guess they have that side to them, too."

Okamoto: Expanding our horizons should also pay dividends in the future.

Furui: Somehow, I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be better if we could keep on putting out things with a fresh taste to them. To an extent, even though we've gotten people to understand "Garnet is this kind of music, this kind of voice," I think this is a period for us to try putting out works that are slightly new sounding, rather than letting things wind up the same as always. Hopefully we can get people to think "I've heard something new." I think this might be the time for us to be doing that.

Nakamura: The key for this song is high. Or should I say, this is the first time that I've had to sing in the high registers for an entire song.

Furui: You need power. (laughs)

Nakamura: Yes. (laughs) I need a lot of power. Even that was a challenge for me. How to sing it through, without dropping the tension in the chorus, and without getting tired of it; that was the main point.

--When the first chorus ends, I feel like hearing it again.

Nakamura: As if it would be so lonely with only one chorus.

--Moving on, there always seems to be a narrative aspect to all of Garnet's songs, but this time, the story seems a bit unusual. (laughs)

Nakamura: The part about it being summer! (laughs) Like we tried to do something that doesn't suit us. And though it's unlike us, wasn't it fun? I enjoyed doing it. I sang with enthusiasm.

--Tell me about this new mode for Garnet Crow.

Nakamura: It's a common expression, but it's kind of like being on top of the world. It's very fun. I wonder if that's expressed in "Spiral." I enjoyed it, personally, too. Because it's in that class of songs that you can sing just by going with the flow. We're in a mode where we're having fun doing what we're doing. I guess it's a mode where we can just let the impulse carry us. Even when it just comes to mood, it's so much easier that way. Because it feels like we're deciding "let's go this way, let's go that way" as it comes up, it's mentally, very relaxing.

Furui: I'm starting to lay out our next course of action. Just steadily reacting to my own internal tone, and gathering raw material.

Okamoto: For me, the mood is Live... Not as in performing live, but feeling as if I'm a-Live. Which is not to say that I was dead before (laughs), but I'm trying to live a bit more spontaneously... more naturally, I guess. The more natural I can see myself, the better. Of course, I still have my worries. But I don't want to show it. It's a mode where I can just go on being cool and natural. Mixing the natural and the unexpected. The possibilities are endless.

AZUKI: I want to go back... Not going back to that particular time, but to go back once more to that very first feeling. I'm not denying the present, but I think that if I were to look back at the time when I first started doing this, I was trying my best at the time, but looking at it from the present, I'd say "It would have been better if I had done it this way." So it's not that I want to branch off again from where I'm at right now, but rather that I want to expand in a new direction from a starting line that is made up of all the situations leading up until now.*

TEXT: Murata Keiko; translated by Ryu