(This interview came with many technical terms, so please forgive me if some parts don’t make much sense…)
?Please tell us about your thoughts, the scenery you saw and feelings that you included when composing Takaramono.
yui: I made this song thinking about the bonds between a married couple and their family. When I was little I was friends with this family that helped me a lot, so I used the image of that couple. When I wrote the lyrics I was at a hotel room in Tohoku shortly after the great earthquake happened. It was an awful incident so it’s hard for me to talk about it. Surely, if I had lost someone important I would have felt so sad that I could ever recover… But, what would that beloved person feel if they saw me that way?… I remember I was thinking deeply about life when I wrote the song.
?Since the song came to life some time passed, and now you have a new “treasure” of your own. Has there been any changes in the nuances of the song and the emotions you feel when singing?
yui: Little by little I came to know many types of love. I think it has influenced greatly in my lyrics and singing voice. I had a recording made previously, but I got very curious about how my current sounds have changed, so I proposed we should record it one more time.
?Now that the band recorded the song with your current feelings, in what way has the song changed?
yui: After we recorded it, the sound engineer, Uni-san said: “It sounds more masculine, don’t you think?” He probably meant that it sounds more simple. In a good way, performed the song with the same feelings that I had before.
mafumafu: The first recording, I used a Fender Precision Bass they had at a studio in Hokkaido. The sound of the bass was good, I tried many things until I found what I wanted. The sound was “fat and sweet” the core is also firm, it’s a great bass. I tried to play simply to support the “bottom”. The sound made by the 4 of us produce a nostalgic scenery. There is happiness when we play. I recorded while reflecting upon many things, so I think the sound produced represents all that.
sacchan: More than playing considering my own feelings, I did it thinking about what yui-chan may consider to be her own “treasures”. Personally, my goal was to consider in what way I should “not” play instead. It was the same the previous time I played, but this time I thought a lot about how to play even less. To the extend of thinking: “should I play in a simple way, or not play at all?” I think I was able to express a lot, by not expressing too much.
murajun: I purchased a Wurlitzer for this recording. Like I thought the overtones and warmth of the sound of a real Wurlitzer were a perfect fit for “Takaramono”. I was so pleased with it that I also used it as my main instrument for “Honou”. Also, I dared not to listen to the previous take and I faced it with new and current feelings, but the contents of the performance are almost the same (Haha). Probably this is what this song allows me to do.
?In “Honou” the repetition of lyrics, vocals, phrasing, ensemble and the way the song develops is very pleasant. Please tell us about how you made this song, and give us an image of how the intersections within the studio session was like.
yui: I feel like when we were finishing the song at the studio every band member completed it by adding their own colors. I didn’t really have a concrete idea (Haha). The vocal part doesn’t have an emotional element. Rather, I think the image is closer to the time being indifferent as it flows comfortably. The words of the lyrics seem to be playing a game. My intention when I wrote them was to give the atmosphere of “cute love” and affection.
mafumafu: When making the song, I added a provisional title considering the first impression it game me. It has a feeling of a live concert at a beachside clubhouse hut don’t you think? It’s what I thought when I wrote the title. The temperature, colors and smells perceived give me that kind of mental picture. Personally, to make it more FURAFURA-ish I thought I should try to include some weird guitar sounds, so I recorded some in secret at home and included them too.
sacchan: I remember I or mafumafu presented a reggae-like rhythm track and we started working from there. Starting the pre-production I listened to yui-chan’s vocals and I felt that maybe a hip-hop beat would suit the song better, so I tried to change it. But I also wanted to put the reggae atmosphere somewhere, so I tried to change the atmosphere abruptly to dancehall reggae or militant beat at some points.
Personally, my favorite part is during the electric piano solo. The drums become a hindrance from the beginning. He is playing trying hard to show off, but the drums keep interrupting him (Haha)
murajun: The image it gives to me is of warmth. In the music sessions I choosed to play the Wurlitzer and the SynthPAD using warm sounds. During the construction process mafumafu made the suggestion of replacing it for an inorganically systematic sampling phrase with the Mellotron to give a warmer impression.The lyrics and title of the song was added later, so when I heard the title would be “Flame” I thought ”That’s yui all over” (Haha)
?This single was completed with the sounds of the four of you meeting after a long time. What kind of band did you think FLOWER FLOWER would be in the beginning?
yui: In one word it is “Gratitude”. I’d be happy if I can feel that I’m free to make music in a relaxed way. I think that ideal is a bit high, but I feel that I want to reach that level. I want to try that from now on. There are many fun things floating around. I want to adopt that form little by little.
mafumafu: Removing many barriers, we manage to represent a genuine stylish sound as a joint ownership. We have a collection of incomparable songs that I love! We still haven’t been able to show them to everyone, so I will be happy when we properly turn them into a “round thing”!
sacchan: The time that passes doesn’t have influence when we get together. I realised it is because of the cool music we create. This has not changed and it makes me really happy. Also, a considerable time has passed, but as long as we start making sounds, a song slowly starts to take shape. I think it’s a strange band.
murajun: I think it’s a band that enjoys making music from the bottom of the heart. I think we have enough unreleased songs to make 2 or 3 albums (Haha) I think little by little we will shape them to deliver them to everyone. Also, I really want to play live!
4 different careers and characters trust each other, they amuse themselves and immerse inside the stylish music they create, but still, they are not smug about it. “Takaramono” overflows with soft tender love. Perhaps because the way yui’s words spin around, or the effect she causes.
This is an extraordinary song that has been warming up since the time of the band’s formation. I hope you can also make of it your “Treasure”
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