[ShinyNeko]

“Nemuri Kyoshiro Burai-hikae” Soundtrack Complete Commentary

Here is my complete commentary for all the songs included in the
“Nemuri Kyoshiro Burai-hikae” original soundtrack album.
I warn you, it’s long! ( ^_^; )

Please give it a read through when you have the time and inclination!

Please give it a read through when you have the time and inclination!


眠狂四郎 (Nemuri Kyoshiro)
This melody symbolizes and provides direction for the soundtrack as a whole.
The very first part of this motif, which is the start of everything,
was inspired by GACKT’s dignified performance as Kyoshiro.
Kyoshiro is a man who is burdened with solitude, sorrow,
and resentment – a samurai of mixed parentage who is standing in the wilderness.

This melody employs a number of different sounds
including shakuhachi (Japanese flute), piano, harpsichord, and strings,
and is centered on piano sounds that create an extremely lonely atmosphere.
This song also features looping shakuhachi, Noh flute,
and drum loops that evoke the abstract music of the 1990’s.
I think that this blend of a Bristol-style British beat and a Japanese feeling turned out
to be both beautiful and sublime.

This song portrays Kyoshiro’s nightmare of suddenly opening a door
and finding a solemn Mass in progress.
With that image in mind, the pipe organ section cuts in and out unexpectedly.
The solo portion resembles the music that the British band Japan
was making in their final years around 1981-1982,
with a blend of analog synthesizer and a flute that cuts in suddenly.
I’m particularly fond of the counter-melody created by the interplay
between the violin and the viola.


悪徳謀議 (Akutoku Bougi)
The original draft of this song was born about seven years ago
(perhaps my most dedicated fans will recognize it).
The most important element of this song,
which is focused on the irregular arpeggio of the baritone guitar,
is the beautiful sho (Japanese flute) played by my dear friend Naoyuki Manabe.

The song starts out resembling gagaku (traditional court music) and ancient Japanese music.
But as the song progresses, everything falls apart and the sho takes on a flavor of insanity.
No matter how hard you might look,
there aren’t many musicians anywhere in the world
who can play the sho in such a violent way!
Manabe’s wonderful performance alternately calls up vivid images of ancient Japan,
bamboo organs, and melancholy, futuristic tones.

The end of the song features chaotic wadaiko (Japanese drums).
This 180 BPM ensemble of raging wadaiko is like crazy drum'n'Bass played on
traditional Japanese instruments, and I think that it is quite innovative.


ヲモイなぞる (Omoi Nazoru)
The most important and central role on this soundtrack
is played by the approach to orchestration.
The key to this song can be found in those themes and melodies,
which gave birth to the ensemble, the minimum line of the introduction,
and the image of a solemn Mass.
I feel that this song serves as one of the models for the SUGIZO-style orchestration
that I was pursuing so diligently for this project.
All of the song’s elements connect harmoniously and coexist perfectly,
from the harp that resembles drops of falling water, the Middle Eastern-style female voice,
and Origa’s splendid singing in the style of a Russian Orthodox choir
(although from the background of the story, it really should be Portuguese style…)
I find this song both beautiful and sorrowful,
and bet that you can’t listen to it without shivering.


黒十字～UNDER;CORE (Kurojyuji~Under;core)
My main goal for this song was to bring out a sensation of dread and fear.
Actually, this song was brought to life when I remixed and further developed
a song from my H.ART CHAOS album of nine years ago.
The temporary title was “Black Mass,”
and it grew from images of bizarre ceremonies, sacrifices, and death throes.
This song also shows Origa’s choral singing to superb effect.
Listening to this song, you might feel salvation, coldness, or perhaps terror.


美保代 (Mihoyo)
This song is based on the heroine of the story,
and is probably my favorite of these orchestral pieces.
It refers to sadness and pain that has been borne for many long years,
and a love that goes beyond that and enfolds everything in its embrace.
And at the end it beckons you to a sublime love filled with the utmost compassion,
like that of the Virgin Mary.
Of all the songs I’ve written so far,
I think that in this one I was able to express a purer,
stronger, and larger love than ever before,
which was one of my dearest ambitions.

The quietly progressing strings, the harp that resembles the sound of falling water,
and the tubular bells that seem to give off a holy light are truly beautiful.
The Kyoshiro motif appears again in the bridge of the song,
yet here it is overflowing with love and kindness that goes beyond loneliness and sorrow.
To Kyoshiro, this motif is one of ultimate sadness.
To Mihoyo, it is one of ultimate kindness.
Being able to express this miraculous synchronicity via music
was the most enjoyable part of this project for me.
Synchronicity always exists in music;
it all depends on whether you can take notice of and comprehend it.
If the channels are always open, miracles will come through.


無想剣曲 (Musou Kenkyoku)
Of all the fantastic musicians I met while working on this project,
one of the most amazing was Hiroshi Motofuji,
who gave a rousing performance on the taiko drums for this song.
His large scale wadaiko drum ensemble consists of a number of different types of taiko
(oke-daiko, shime-daiko, and odaiko) arranged like a drum set,
and he also plays instruments like the cymbals and gong as well.
The multitrack recording was entirely completed by Motofuji.
Just like the strings, the wadaiko is a very important element for this album.
In any case, I’m just really happy I got to play with Motofuji!

This song features a raging taiko orchestra woven
with voice performances that resemble Kecak,
a shakuhachi that cuts through everything,
the cries of the Noh flute
(possession of which was limited to the warrior class at the time of the story),
and a SUGIZO-esque screaming guitar and arpeggio.
All of the elements in this song combine in a miraculous way,
and I think it turned out to be a really innovative piece of music.
The working title was “Sword Fight,”
and I feel like I was able to express a type of battle royal
and the sense of emptiness that killing brings.


ぬくもりのなかで (Nukumori no naka de)
The creative director of the play requested that Senjuro Takebe’s theme song
express the idea of “a vast fatherly affection and kindness.”
I wrote a number of songs with that in mind, but when I handed them over I was told,
“they lack a certain intensity.”
I had no idea what to do – no one had said anything about intensity!
After struggling for a while,
I finally hit upon using a shakuhachi in the middle part
and a rhythmic approach towards the end.
Thankfully, the creative director ended up liking it (^_^).
I feel like I was able to express beauty, kindness, intensity, and great insight.


迅雷 (Jinrai)
This is the theme song of Jinrai Mikumo, Kyoshiro’s enemy.
It is based on the shakuhachi motif that appears in many of these songs,
and was performed in an improvisational fashion by Kinohachi,
who contributed a great deal to this album.
He’s amazing – he gave his all playing shakuhachi, Noh flute, and bamboo flute,
taking my aggressive requests and somehow giving them form.
Kinohachi is capable of wonderful performances that honor Japan’s ancient instruments,
but he’s also a revolutionary musician who promotes ensemble work with violin and piano.
Being able to meet him was one of the most significant benefits I gained from this project.
On this song he plays a shakuhachi solo, which was completed in just one fantastic take!

I wanted to employ a shakuhachi
because in my mind it was the instrument
that would allow us to best express the atmosphere of the samurai,
and my instincts were correct in this case.
I think this exceedingly simple song expresses Jinrai Mikumo’s severity,
stoic manner, aloofness, and warrior spirit.


爪弾く者たちのブルース (Tsumabiku monotachi no Blues)
The working title for this rather lively song was “Friends.”
It refers to friendship and close comrades,
and somehow bringing in these images gave the song a bluesy feeling.
The central image of the song is one of snapping fingers together with friends.
There’s a bluesy acoustic guitar, a saxophone-like bamboo flute,
and percussion-style Japanese hand drums.
It’s like a jam or a blues song from the old downtown area of the city of Edo,
and I think it turned out pretty well.

At one point the song suddenly changes completely,
gaining a sense of pathos and flying far into the distance.
But before you know it, you return to the world of the friends.
I think that I was able to clearly express this contrast,
and I’m also rather fond of the fresh, clean ending.


美保代version“琴” (Mihoyo Koto no shirabe)
This song is the same as “Mihoyo,” only played on a single koto.
It was composed for a scene where the heroine of the play is giving a performance,
which turned out to be quite a trial.
It’s one thing to arrange the song that was originally written for strings as a koto solo,
but actually playing it solo involves many difficulties such as tuning and number of strings.

This song was played by Atsuko Kida,
one of the top koto musicians in the world and a truly wonderful performer.
But even so, we had a really hard time and all sorts of things went wrong.
We ended up changing the tuning and track for each recording session.
There were really difficult bends, delicate harmonics…In other words,
this song turned into something really complex that would be impossible to perform live. (^_^
If Mihoyo were actually playing this song as easily,
she would have to be a superhuman musician – a natural koto prodigy!
I guess that’s not very likely…


宵闇の月 (Yoiyami no Tsuki)
The original motif for this song was created in 2005,
and basically hasn’t been changed since then except for perfecting it as a composition.
The production staff requested that this song be about “doubt and suspicion.”
It shifts from a negative mode of doubt,
anxiety, and distrust to a positive outlook of love, conviction, and comfort.
This expresses the changing feelings of Ayano, the other heroine of the story.
The song gradually opens up its heart, revealing itself,
which I feel is also an important theme of the story.
It has arpeggio of a gut guitar, with modulation, and a complex clean guitar.
It is interwoven with a psychedelic feeling and a cosmic sensation.
In this short piece of music,
I think that I was able to skillfully express the mysteries and colors of a moonlight night.


ぬくもりのさきに (Nukumoro no saki ni)
This is another version of “Nukumori no naka de”,
adapted to hint at the developments in the second half of the story.
We used an entirely different arrangement and different string performances,
and only the shakuhachi solo is the same take as the original song.
I think this creates an interesting contrast.


円月殺法 (Engetsu Sappou)
This song is played at the climax of the play,
making it important both for the story and the music itself.
The prototype for this tune was created in 2005, which has been entirely restructured.
The first portion has an ambient atmosphere that expresses a feeling of splitting tension,
the second part is an arc of trembling cold sounds and throbbing heat,
and the third part features Origa’s voice like a spirit floating in the air.
I think that we were able to take the spiritual vibrations from the story
and directly translate them into music.
All of the sounds – the icy clean guitar, the twisted loop of the wadaiko and other instruments,
Jinrai’s theme that cuts into the song, the insane screaming guitar – have a life of their own.
It’s a miracle that we were able to musically express this tension.


NEMURIのテーマ (Nemuri no Theme)
This song resembles the vast ocean.
It’s the most important song on the soundtrack
and contains all of the musical motifs and consciousness of the album.
At the same time, it also holds all of my musical experience up until now.
The song has been arranged so that it teems with all of my musical elements and memories,
focused on orchestration and Japanese instruments.
As a result, it became a rather epic piece that stretches into ten minutes
– a musical suite made up of three independent parts.

The first part refers to Edo, the magnificent and thriving old capital,
and the towering, impressive Edo Castle.
This motif was created by transferring the image of the Great Pyramid of Giza onto Edo.
There’s the symbolic echoes of an odaiko, a lively bamboo flute,
and a piccolo that seems to dance through the sky.
All of these things create an imposing and majestic image, which is also tinged by grief.

The second part is sorrowful,
expressing the sense of dashing forward while bearing a variety of wounds.
In both the first and second part, the violin twines together like a duet.
The wadaiko ensemble rages, controlling the direction of everything.
And the shakuhachi naturally creates a Japanese atmosphere.
The climax at the end of this section seems like it might lead you to the heavens,
and I really like all the different elements.

The third part once again needed to include the refrain of Kyoshiro’s theme.
This is the conclusion of everything, and also a beginning.
The various parts of the story are focused here, and a chemical reaction is taking place.
The strongly rising climax ends, like melting into space,
as if quietly taking a breath in the wilderness without anyone noticing,
all alone…the only thing left is sadness.
I am so very grateful to Ikuro Fujiwara,
the fantastic person who supervised and led this orchestration.

This soundtrack was brought to life by the wonderful creative power
and skill of the people who fully expressed the potential and dynamism of this song.
This can be said about any of these songs, but this song especially.
This tune breaks through the limits of “SUGIZO Music,” pressing forward to the next step.
I think it’s an especially important part of my musical history.
I’m heading towards a new beginning.

　
That’s it – thank you for reading this far!
My music obsession shows absolutely no signs of fading,
so I hope that you all keep an eye on what I’ll do next.

SGZ