From their fourth studio album GEMINI, the song birth in the death is performed not only during ALICE NINE. concerts with Show on vocals, but frequently features on THE ALTERNATIVE’s setlists as well, with Saga doing the vocals (if you are subscribed to their note, Nao posted footage of one of THE ALTERNATIVE’s performances of the song here). For their 15th anniversary concert in 2019 they played a beautiful rendition that resonated through the atmosphere of the outdoor venue. During their 17th anniversary concert in 2021, ALICE NINE. played all of the songs from the album GEMINI (including a really emotional, uplifting rendition of birth in the death); in anticipation of that concert, they also put up a video on their official note with all 5 of them reminiscing about the making of the album.
You can find a translation of the song’s lyrics here.
It’s always best to get a feel for the creative process from the artists themselves. Here are a few excerpts from magazine interviews, mainly featuring composer Saga and lyricist Show (though everyone had plenty to say about it for SHOXX), discussing the song and how it fits into the album’s overall concept.
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Gekkayo 2011.03
(Photography: 徳間)
Show: Personally… I find that the characteristics of the first track I. and the last one, birth in the death, are largely different, and that’s a point I was very conscious of.
Saga: If I were to expand on that in a simple way, the former and latter halves of the album are frankly different bands. I would think that a band that were to play the songs in the former half wouldn’t play those in the latter half. In that fact, you can really feel the dual nature of the album. It’s not simply a difference in nature between pop and rock. We’re doing two things together that wouldn’t be done together.
Neo Genesis vol 52
(Photography: Susumu Miyawaki / Text: Hiroko Yamamoto)
Saga: birth in the death has for me what is the closest to being a personal section I would say, and is a very profound one. I think it’s perhaps the same in terms of the lyrics.
Show: It is. Actually, among the members, this is the song that garnered the most voices saying “I want to do this”.
B-PASS 2011.03
(Photography: Takashi Hirano / Text: Yuichi Masuda)
Show: As you’d expect, we’re human, so we want it to be understood, this core aspect of ourselves. In order to have that understood, we intend to have put in our maximum effort. I think, if you looked forward to getting in touch with that nucleus of us as a band as a listener without forcing it, that would be enough. Because if we do things the right way, we’ll say everything we need to with this one album.
Fool’s Mate 2011.03 vol. 353
(Text: Yuka Sugie)
Saga: In birth in the death, Shou-kun takes up guitar for the first time.
Hiroto: Saga-kun is also on guitar in this one, so there are 4 of us on stage in front, all of us holding guitars.
What’s In 2011.02
(Text: 杉江由紀)
Show: The first song I., fourth song 4U, and thirteenth song birth in the death feel like they are primordially connected in some way. This time the songs that we’ve come to include were really deep and so I think there are a lot of words in the lyrics that came up as a result of a profound part of me feeling an impetus from the music. birth in the death, a song that allows you to see love and hope while facing sadness, is actually also one that has I. on loop during a part of it.
SHOXX vol 217
(Photography: SUSUMU MIYAWAKI / Text: NAOKO TAKEICHI)
Saga: For a couple minutes from the start of the song, Nao-san, well, we don’t need him (laughs). I’m wondering what he’s gonna do during lives (laughs).
Hiroto: In the middle of the song, he could even suddenly appear on stage, and start drumming naturally. I think that would be totally cool.
Nao: A great idea. I think it’d be extremely cool. Let’s go with that!
Tora: This song is unexpectedly hard. In terms of the guitar, it’s not that you’re doing anything all that complicated, it’s hard because the monotone phrase you’re playing is in a loop. It’s not a song where you’re all high energy and putting in a lot of effort. You play the same arpeggio over and over, and in the middle of that, it’s like, you ask yourself where you are in the phrase you’re playing and end up not knowing.
Hiroto: Exactly. But personally, out of all the many album songs we’ve had, from the demo stage, this is the song for which I most felt, “I absolutely want to do it!”. It suits the frequency of my body. A song that requires physique, you might say.
Saga: Also, for this song, there’s a shocking fact! Surprisingly, I wasn’t playing bass in it. This song’s bass was programmed. It’s not that I planned to do that; I recorded the bass live at the outset, but as a result I figured I didn’t need the live take, and I ended up trying to see if I could program it in. So… I wonder what I’ll do in our concerts.
Show: When we’re doing this song in concert, what do you think of Saga-kun and Nao-san appearing in a live film for us?
Hiroto: Great idea. During the performance of the song, would we be able to get the two of them to play the roles of “life and death” for us? (laughs)
Show: The lyrics are on the darker side. They’re of a subject I can’t speak on forthrightly. GEMINI-0 to GEMINI-II are the same, but if I were to speak deeply on all these songs, even a personal interview wouldn’t end up being long enough. It’s like, the self objectively watching human lives twinkling and disappearing like shooting stars. They’re the lyrics that concentrate most on what I’ve always been singing about. Listening to this album’s songs live as well as through the studio recordings lends different impressions so I’m very eager to play these in concert.
Saga: Right now, for us personally as well, these moments of coming to get to know our new selves are really enjoyable, so of course with this album, I think I’d like you all to put your hopes in what’s next for Alice Nine.
CD & DL Data 2011.02
(Photography: 草刈雅之 / Text: 赤木まみ)
Show: This is a song in which shooting stars light up and disappear in the night sky that you’re gazing up at, and that is the scenery you watch while shedding tears over the ephemeral nature of human lives… that’s the gist of it. It also carries the message that, precisely because human life is so ephemeral, it’s precious. What’s more, the piano sounds in the song are wonderful and… bring you to tears. That’s something that Saga-kun put in during the demo stage, but when I heard those notes, I thought, this man we call Saga is a genius. I absolutely want you to listen to this on repeat, and afterwards, feel the love in it.
ROCK AND READ 2016.04 vol 65
(Photography: 山内洋枝 / Text: 東條祥恵)
Saga: birth in the death. That was the first song I was satisfied with. In the band, I had a feeling of satisfaction that was like, “I made this”. I was way too picky about the details because partway through, I was told by the producer Okano Hajime-san, “Fine, man, do whatever you want!” (laughs). That song is my personal favourite, even now.
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Despite the fact that this song is now over ten years old as of writing this article, and that it has a bit of a cult following among fans, it still manages to cast the listener into an incredibly mysterious atmosphere. The original studio version has a very different feel from the version they play live as a band, as well as from the version Saga and Nao play live as the duo, THE ALTERNATIVE. I wonder what things, specifically, Saga was picky about. Did four of them truly play guitar for the studio version? Because the live versions certainly don’t feature four of them on guitar! Was there something personally significant about the piano notes that caused such a strong emotional reaction in Show upon hearing the original demo? Its lyrics are serenely beautiful, and Show hinted at there being a link between them and those of the GEMINI suite, but also mentioned a link between them and the intrinsically linked I. and 4U. What was the detail that Saga was so stubborn about that caused Okano-san to finally give up on trying to, well, produce the feel of our favourite bassist’s favourite composition?
I love the utter passion (not to say stubbornness) with which Saga approached this song, getting it from demo (I wonder how different the demo sounded!) to its completed version; I love, too, the ways that it has grown through being performed by them all on stage. Show’s lyrics take us to a deep, spiritual place.
There is beauty in the details, Saga; keep that passion for music aflame.