STAIRWAY TO NIJI #2 - FINGERING
When ken came back to London in September 1997, he shot part of his documentary in the music equipment shop where in May he had bought an acoustic guitar, the instrument he used to create Niji.
Though in the second trip he fingered another guitar and bought an amp, it was nice of him telling us so many details about where he made the purchase and how he composed the song at the same time.
ken: it’s a song that came out smoothly when I was enjoying myself with my guitar.
It seems that there were several reasons for his purchase: he complained about not having a good acoustic guitar at his place, he wanted to play during the stay…and also to buy a souvenir!
ken: my most important purchase was a Gibson acoustic guitar [model J50]. Before leaving [for England], I thought that I’d feel like playing guitar because we would stay there for 2 weeks. Since it would be troublesome to have it slung over from here, I thought I’d better buy it in London. It could be my souvenir, too! (laughs). (A)
From the documentary we get to know that he searched for an acoustic guitar since the next day after his arrival in London (May 9th , I suppose?).
He watched several shop, until he stopped in front of Andy’s.
Ken: since I didn’t have a good acoustic guitar [at home], I hoped to buy one. It was the same buying it in Japan or anywhere, but when I was looking for it [in London] and found that acoustic guitar… I had an incredible brainwave! Moreover, it was the first time for me to buy one with my money. It was…how to say it? maybe …embarrassing? (laughs) […]… or should I say a new sensation? I was staring at it, without thinking or saying nothing. Because I was happy simply looking at it.
Then, the old shop keeper asked me: “Play?” so I tried it. He came back quickly to what he was doing: repairing some guitars with care. Was that ok? What to do? To buy? Not to buy? To ask him? He left me all alone for a long time (laughs). […] He let me try it in a good atmosphere, so I bought it.(A)
Well, ken added that it had very good price, too...
ken: Niji was born from that guitar. I made it after coming back from London...
... if I try to recall, I made it unintentionally when I was playing that guitar in a good mood […] When I create tunes, if I turn off the lights, I can picture the sea quite often. But this time it didn’t happen, I didn’t made it with the intention of writing a song...when I was playing the guitar, I thought that the melody was good and, humming to myself, I completed it smoothly. After that I thought about some images, but at that time, I had no image…just like: “ah, I made it!” (A)
ken: when I wrote this song I wasn’t in the “composing mode” [...] when I was fingering the guitar somehow, both the arpeggio and the singing came out at the same time by chance. It’s a song that came out smoothly when I was enjoying myself with my guitar.
Interviewer: Have you ever composed any other song in this way?
ken: for as long as I can remember, I’ve never composed in this way. But my memory is so scarce that I myself am scared, so I’m not really sure. (B)
ken repeated more than once that this way of composing is very unusual to him: he was not in the “composing mode”, he made the song without an image, he was humming, too.
So what kind of instruments he normally used? And how the image were growing inside him?
ken: recently I usually work sitting down properly at the keyboard with the idea of composing something. But this time I made it in about 3 minutes while I was having fun playing my guitar […] Up to now I thought it to be impossible, I mean making a song smoothly but unconsciously. I usually work like that: sometimes I make the room darker and, when I am able to create a little phrase, I wonder if I can get a cool song out of it. When I’m working on the tune, an image grows bigger quickly in my mind at the same time. But in this case, I made the tune directly, with no image. This time we went overseas [London] to shot the PV, and sometimes I was thinking about the shot as the song was made in that way [with no image]. So if I wonder which image I associate to it, I feel as if I’ve thought about the image of this song only after [I think he means during the shot]. (C)
He said that it took him around 3 minutes to create the tune! From what he said, we can assume he made it between May 24th and June 10th:
ken: it was already done by the time we got together to share the songs we’d each written during the break, but I didn’t actually share it with the group until after we got back from Hong Kong. Just to make these guys think I’d been working really hard the whole time. (laughs) Even though the song is over 5 minutes, it actually didn’t take me that long to write. We played it one time around, listened to it, changed a few things here and there... (D)
tetsu: we chose this song quite naturally … I think we all agreed
Why they chose ken’s tune?
tetsu: at the beginning I thought that the chords’ extension was extreme and the song was difficult, but when I listened to the singing, I thought it was really a good song. (E)
hyde: since the beginning I was sure it was the only one. Next single should have been like that… I had the idea already in my head: with a strong and beautiful atmosphere. So I thought: “there it is!”. It was perfectly matching the idea in my mind, both in melody and chords.
hyde said repeatedly that he wanted to create a song like that, but didn’t manage to make it.
ken: [About level of arrangement at that point] I had already decided my guitar phrase to some extent, then I thought that they could do what they want. I left everything in their hands without saying anything. (A)
I don’t have a musical culture at all, and I’m not able to write a music review ><
So I’ll rely on ken’s and his interviewer’s words to describe the sound of the song and how it was arranged.
It’s plenty of music terms, I hope I got them right ^^;
Interviewer: in this song you can’t clearly separate verse, bridge, hook. In that way it seems to me similar to western music.
Ken: it’s maybe because the acoustic guitar I used was a western product (laughs). I had no intention to create a western song, but sometimes it happens to me that songs that I consider cool when I listen to them in Japan, are not that good if I listen to them overseas. On the opposite, even if I had thought “which part of it is good?” about some western songs, when I listened to them in London they made a deep impression on me. I perceived this thing after I went to London and it probably came out unconsciously.
Interviewer: is the sound of this song cool in the way you want?
Ken: yes. Before this song, I tended to think that one more extension makes the sound cool, but I made this song without even the time to think of it. Besides, after a long time I felt I could create with guitar. This is very important, too. When I usually make song, I don’t think of guitar phrase at first place. The melody is the first thing, then all part except guitars come quickly to my mind. But this time the arpeggio at the beginning of the song came to my mind at the same time of the melody. It was first time. So, as a guitarist, I have the impression I made this song long time ago.
Interviewer: for the first time chokkaku-san has been chosen to arrange the song.
Ken: our director chose chokkaku-san. His(her?) way of working is based on cutting off several thing, and putting guitar at first place. A part has been reduced so much. I really like instruments like piano, I thought of putting it into the song, but it has been “cut off”.
Interviewer: but in the middle of the song there’s a point where the atmosphere change…?
Ken: I wanted to reach a sense of suspension in the following guitar solo. So I played intensely in the part just before it. I wanted to put that gap. It is pleasant. Also the sound changes daringly. Especially the drum sound. But the engineer has great ability, too, I think. (C)
After a sad intro with acoustic guitar and recorder, the melody in the hook changes completely and becomes painful, as if it bumps into violent passion. Then the verse seems to taste a cheerless feeling. The configuration of the dramatic song has become rich in highs and lows, and surely it’s amazing the modulation of their performance from the part that flows calmly to the hook that moves deeply.
The melody can touch and shake the hearts of Japanese people, irrespective of vogue or period; Laruku’s sentimental world, that can be said their royal road, is developed from the intro to the end (F)
To be continued
***
How people should listen to this song?
Ken: the best would be listening to it in one’s favourite condition, but I’d like people also to listen facing it as it is, without any feeling. Maybe it’s because I listen to this song in this way.
Sources
(A) L'Arc~en~Ciel - the foot of the rainbow, B-PASS, November 1997
(B) Where you can see the rainbow, PATi PATi, November 1997
(C) Second coming in London, hv vol. 5, November 1997
(D) A Rainbow to the Future and Beyond, WHAT's IN?, October 1997, credit for translation here
(E) Reaching you with feelings, then heading for the future, POP BEAT, November 1997
(F) A new future is waiting beyond the door, CDData, November 1997
Most part of pics are screencaps from the documentary they shot in Germany and London