[translation]Revo's interview in AnicanR
-Can you tell be about the concept behind the album "Marchen"?
Revo(R from hereon): People often ask me, 'Why fairytales?'(laughs), but the Grimm fairytales themselves are rather well known even in Japan - people already have a preconceived image of them, so not too much explanation is needed in that area. People can clearly see 'this is how Sound Horizon(SH from hereon) does it'. Even when it's based on the same Grimm fairytales, the worldview will be starkly different depending upon each author. So I thought it's about time that I demonstrate 'why SH is interesting' again. Of course, the Grimm fairytales are interesting by their own rights, and I did think about giving a new form to the morals hidden within. You could say that it's my fountain of creativity, but I've gotten used to fumbling for themes that strike me profoundly - so much that it's now a way of living. I claim that it's mostly done subconsciously, but on the other hand, I don't think I can live any other way. By the time I finished (my previous work) "Moira", I've already set my mind upon 'doing this next'.
-Because there's something that you didn't do in "Moira"?
R. That's true. Moira was made into something like a taiga drama, with all the songs forming a continuous stream. So I wanted to make this into something of an omnibus - each song can be enjoyed on its own merits. Even though tragic events happened one after another in "Moira", it's easy to see a hopeful message in the end. Since I provided a certain kind of salvation in the form of the concept of 'death' itself. So, I thought of creating something that takes a closer look at the negative parts of humanity and treats death with a cynical point of view. Don't people just die left and right in fairytales? Even if an evil witch was burnt to death, it's still 'all's well end's well'. That sort of point of view can't be found in Greek mythologies(Moira's motif). Such as saying 'Dance like mad till you drop dead!' as if it's some sort of comedy, or never taking your eyes off the scene despite screaming 'kyaaa! kyaaa!' - I think that's one aspect that exists in every human, so it feels like I've simply enlarged it for your viewing pleasure. Of course, humans are multi-faceted beings, so the question of how I'm going to deform them contains a worldview within itself and gives off quite the unique charm. Well, the original work itself was already shamelessly cruel, in certain manners of speaking, so I did my worst without holding back. (laughs)
-"Moira" really took a lot out of you(refer to AnicanR MUSIC Vol. 7), but did development go any smoother this time?
R. No, it didn't go smoothly at all. I've always been suffering from the limits of my abilities as a human, and now my attention span can't even hold up because every single song was so long.(laughs) Actually, there were times when I sent the musicians scurrying home before we even finished the recording. Multiple times. (smiles wryly) Even the staff around me didn't realize. At times like those, you really feel the limits of the human attention span. Actually, since I am the final judgment if I don't like the drums' entrance, or feel some dissonance coming from the way a chord sounds and would like to change it, I have to do the final checkup for all of that. I also have to make judgments concerning minuscule details like delicate expressions of vocals, how much reverb to apply in that instant, finding suitable volumes for every single one of those sound effects, and even the ideal positions for story scenes - so it takes a huge amount of concentration. But I think I can never express just how much it takes to someone's who's never had the experience, no matter how many words I use. So just treat this as a long-winded excuse from someone who forgets to record important phrases or lines. (laughs)
-Compared to "Moira", the individual song lengths have increased dramatically.
R. I do need a certain amount of length to express what I want, especially since there's something to serve as the base of the story this time. I knew that, but after mulling over elements that I want to add and ones that I have to add, everything ended up longer than I'd expected. But of course, ideal progressions of music and story are by no means equal, so there were some parts that I took out in a sudden fit of courage. The easiest to understand out of all these is probably "The Ancient Well on the Border that separates Life and Death" with its long-ass name. (laughs) The song involves a repeated pattern of the stepchild heroine and her stepsister's fall into the well and the mysterious happenings following it. But since I've already shown you everything there is to see with the heroine and made you listen to the music I made with its ups and downs, the song will simply drag on if I used the same amount of painstaking details with the sister's route. So, I ended up showing you the results only, based on the assumption of 'You know this already, right?' I did give you some idea of her personality beforehand, so even those who know next to nothing about the original tale can have fun exercising their imagination that way.
-Are their any difficulties you ran into because of the existence of those tales that serve as base?
"The Princess Sleeping in the Glass Coffin" is definitely the most well-known story in all the songs...so there was this constant idea of 'Snow White' being the one story that I can't stray too far away from. But I feel like the ones that leave the strongest impression, both character and music-wise, is not Snow White from the original tale, but the queen and the dwarves. Thanks to Disney, the scene of the queen questioning the mirror and the dwarves' "Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!" song garnered almost too much fame, after all. So, if I make something that's too faraway from the image in place, people won't be able to accept it due to their preconceptions. Of course, I could've just winged it, but in the end, I thought it was better to give the dwarves joyful and sunny rhythms while surrounding the queen with an atmosphere that's both elegant and suspicious. But of course, I have to do it with melodies that no one has heard before. Easier said than done. So I thought this was a rather interesting challenge that tests "Revo's current ability as a composer". However, I believe I've succeeded in the sense that people become 'sly' when they heard the song.
-What do you mean by 'sly'?
R. Like I've said just now, it's incredibly difficult to compose a melody that doesn't destroy preconceived images, yet isn't a carbon copy of older works. But I believe that people who listen to "The Princess Sleeping in the Glass Coffin" will definitely think "anyone with the proper sensitivity would make a song like that". In other words, it has to be a song that forms a kind of standard in itself. The phenomena of something sounding completely natural after a hearing even though you might never have imagined it in your wildest dreams before. Something along the lines of being the proud winner of a rock-paper-scissors game even though you made your move later than others. This is incredibly difficult to do. But I don't like taking refuge within simple things. But well, the part of "Mirror, o mirror" came to me naturally, so I guess I'm not really convincing. (laughs) By contrast, the dwarves' parts and lines were super hard to come up with. I won't flee from battles with myself over my creations. I think that aspect of my nature demonstrates itself in the general structure of my works. For example, even though it might be somewhat disrespectful to the original work, if I feel like "it'll be much more exciting if I change this" I'll change it without hesitation, even whilst knowing that it'll only bring more difficulties. If I feel like being faithful to the original work is the best, then I'll work towards that. Changing something just because it'll be the easier path to take is completely out of the question. On the other hand, I had the choice of not including "The Blue Earl's Castle". There are plenty of other Grimm fairytales, and I can still finish this work(album) with other songs. But I chose to include it because I wanted to weave in another layer of "love and hatred", and because of an issue unrelated to that - the desire to challenge a type of taboo as a performer. I'd probably be forced to restrain myself if it were put on broadcasting media, but if publication is possible, then I see no reason to engage in self-restraint. But of course, a song that contains non-stop screaming might be skipped over when people play the CD again, so that's kind of a reversal of priorities. (laughs) That said, I have no intention of making everything conservative. I tried to be aware of the delicate balance between explicit depictions and something that might stick out, but still be listened to again. I think those bits that stick out are important spices to a work as a whole. I have something against narrowing the scope of the possibilities of expression yourself, you see.
-There were a few classical references in "Song of Dusk".
R. It's something I've never done before. I think the stage this time - Germany in the middle ages - played a big part in it. Still, I've chosen to arrange some classics ranging from the classical period to the romantic one - both of which take place a long time after the middle ages. I was aiming more for an atmosphere that gives an image of society at that time over chronological accuracy. Actually, there's more meaning to it than that, but it's better if I don't say it. I think wise listeners like you will notice it sooner or later. Also, I pretty much went 'I don't care anymore!' concerning some parts of the harmony.(laughs) I had to write some chord progressions to make it work with a band, but I'm pretty sure that that they're different from the original song. I could've double-checked, but I thought it'd be more interesting if I left it as it is, so just treat that as some Revo flavoring. The harmonies for "Beethoven's 9th" are pretty much modernized. Since I'm rather familiar with the songs myself, they're all songs that I can write down by ear, or even by memory alone without relying on sheet music.(laughs)
-One unique aspect of SH is the foreshadowing and mysteries scattered all over the place.
R. That's true. But this piece of work is something I can't make without thinking this far ahead when I was making "Id which leads to the Forest which leads to Id". Of course, many elements were hidden in 'Id~'. Though fairytales might have outrageous and ridiculous aspects of fiction, not everything has to be made up - maybe some of them are simply another reflection of reality. I wanted to set it up so that the story might seem down the earth, but might drag you into the adjoining world of fairytales just as easily. How much is reality and how much is fiction? You could say that this seems plausible, but in the end, can something like that really happen? Everything is rather hazy like that. (laughs) Well, I like giving listeners the freedom to think whatever they want. Some people loop the CD even after they've listened to it enough, some don't - but I wouldn't know. Some people can think of A, and some will think of B. I don't mind if you give up on that, but I've put a lot of gimmicks in various places for those of you who are able to postulate I mean, isn't it rather fun to make predictions and deductions? So, if the alternative is to deprive you of this kind of valuable enjoyment, I'd rather keep my own intentions blurry.
-The concert can be considered a finished product in the sense that it gave form to the world that consists of "Marchen" "Id~". Revo, how do you view albums and concerts?
R. The album is the core of everything, a challenge to humanity's imagination. Basically, it's made of sounds alone, and you really need to use your ears and head to know what's happening. So there're some aspects that I want to convey even without the presence of concerts. In the concert, you can understand the action through your eyes, but even in the CD,the sound effects and songs themselves change according to the character's movements, in other words, I've made it so you can understand the action through changes in the speakers' output. Of course, I've adjusted how things sound like according to even the most detailed of scenes. I've even done MA work(adjusting the music, vocals and sound effects according every scene, usually done for visual media like movies) that's not required for normal CDs. I think it's somewhat of a shame that concerts guide people's imagination towards the visual aspect too strongly. But there are people who enjoy seeing it visualized. As for myself, I'm still struggling with the question of whether concerts are correct steps to take or not. That's why I keep telling people 'you don't have to treat whatever happens in concerts as THE truth' and change certain details of the performance day by day.
-However, from the concerts, I can feel that SH and Revo yourself took great care in making them into a form of entertainment that appeals to the general population.
R. Concerning that, I've had this thought since the beginning of the concerts, that 'it's possible for the audience to finish the show without uttering a single word, but merely observing'. Of course, it's not necessarily a bad thing since there are instances like movies that people want to watch while sitting in concentration, or classical concerts that involve some form of etiquette, but when I began to think of what SH and I want to pursue, I have the feeling that it's going to be different from a concert that you just watch. I think it'd be nice if the concerts tilt closer to rock lives. That said, I'm not exactly making the kind of music that you enjoy by making a racket without a second thought. What I'm aiming for is a concert that has the proper balance between simply watching and participation. So I'm constantly thinking about how to garner voluntary participation. For example, wouldn't it be harder for people to take actions that they deem out of place? So, to make everyone participate, I have to guide them by including elements in my songs that naturally make you want to clap, or putting in choral parts that are obviously for the audience to sing along. What I've been doing till now has formed somewhat of a 'norm' in itself. Like making a war scene for every album and having everyone follow some 'general'. (laughs) But I really like that aspect for being so uniquely SH. Stirring up the crowd and whatnot. I think it'd be nice if I could naturally include things that you can enjoy by participating in the concert. It's really hard though.
-It's been 10 years since the first CD release, please tell me what kind of goals you have in mind for SH.
R. I think it's a difficult time for SH right now. SH is gradually taking shape, so it'd be easy to stick to it. Even if people think "they're doing something different", that "difference" is becoming the norm. They'll just be commenting "as expected from SH". Of course, without a certain extent of evaluation, there'd be no 'norm' to speak of. The fact that certain things remained is a testament to things I did right, but at the same time, I can't help but think 'just what's going to happen in the next 10 years?' Right now, I have ideal images of where I want to take SH in terms of CD production and concerts, but they're full of ideas that surpass the capabilities of single concerts and CDs. I can't really go into detail, but there're some problems in regards to the business model as well, so I really can't promise anything right now. People won't be able to keep up if you look too far beyond the current era. But perhaps even that ideal era will never arrive, and everything is mere delusion - there's always the possibility of that. But well, maybe I'd be able to pull it off before I die. (laughs) Still, I have been thinking about what to do with the basics of creating and expressing, so I'd be extremely grateful if you can watch over me all the way to the future.