"Nature" and the music that was there ─ MONO NO AWARE, New AL "The Ark of the Line" Interview | Qetic Qetic Logo

──I think that this work, "The Ark of the Line" is full of the charm of MONO NO AWARE as a "band". Until the previous work, I had a strong impression that each member would build according to the blueprints brought in by Mr. Tamaki, but this time, as a result of the fusion of each player's "interpretation" in the ensemble, a deep "natural" design was created. It's finished with a "na" sound. Do you personally feel that way too?

Chihiro Tamaki (Vo./Gt./Hereinafter referred to as Tamaki) 　Yes, I understand.

──First of all, could you tell us about the songs that became the core of this work?

Tamaki: Last year, when I was asked about the theme song for "Umibe no Étranger", three songs were actually nominated: "Because it was there", "Zokkon", and "LOVE LOVE" (*Final Decided to be “Zokkon”). So, when we started making the album, those three songs were almost complete, so we decided to record them first. At that stage, I felt that all the songs were approaching "love", so those three songs were the songs that derived the overall theme of the album.

──Then, did you try anything new in terms of sound for those three songs?

Tamaki: The two songs other than "Zokkon" have more instruments than the previous songs. The lyrics of "Zokkon" were delayed, and during that time the members had put together the orchestra for "because it was there" without me, and the sound had evolved quite a bit. In particular, the steel guitar was added to the interlude, and I thought, wow, this is good. It feels so good to be completed while I don't know.

──Unprecedented experience?

Tamaki: Well, until now, I had a strong impression that the songs were under my control.

──Were the three of you strongly conscious of that part?

Yutaka Yanagisawa (Dr./hereafter, Yanagisawa)　I was the last one to join this band, but the previous drummer faithfully reproduced Zhou Qi's demo, so from there I started to become more physical. I wanted to take it in a comfortable direction. In short, I wanted to hit a phrase that would make the hand move naturally.

──Certainly, I think Mr. Yanagisawa's play style has always been a character. However, the ensemble on this album is more organic, and I wanted to ask what brought about that change.

Yanagisawa: I understand. I have an ego as a drummer, and I want to cook properly. I've been practicing that since the first album, and since then I've been mixing things that I want to do with Zhou Kei, so I'm wondering how this balance has changed in this work.

Ayako Takeda (Ba./Hereafter, Takeda) 　I also thought that it was no good just doing the demo that was given to me. However, up until now, the songs had already been created at the time of the demo, and the vocals and the bassline were closely linked...

Tamaki: In my case, the song and the bass line come to mind at the same time (laughs).

Takeda: That's why now I think I don't have to force myself to change, and my way of thinking has changed. At the time of listening to the demo and reproducing it, it should have changed somewhat depending on your own habits. So I think my character will come out enough.