I’ve added four new lyric translations to the Cryptography page.
For アリス九號., two songs from the IDEAL album, Adam and ECHO. For Shou’s new solo project Verde/, I translated his fourth full song release, Lunaris/. Finally, for HIROTO’s self-titled solo project, I translated his second full song release, The New World.
I’m slowly going back through older songs and fixing the formatting to be in line with the formatting in the newer translations, as well as to add headers of photos I’ve taken that I feel fit the lyrics where possible. The latest to get this treatment was Everlasting, made all the easier by the fact that I actually spent a full day the summer of 2020 wandering around a park taking a representative photo for each track off of NIGHTLESS CITY EDEN. In going through those older translations, I’m also adding a comment to each Youtube version of the video with the translation itself (not my piles of notes, of course). I figure some listeners might find it handy and maybe the members will find it handy too.
I finally finished writing the manuscript for the next fairytale in the Sable’s Tales anthology and am now in the process of editing it. I also finally achieved a long-held goal with this one: I created a bard song for it. I managed this after a good conversation about songwriting with SoundQuest (who makes music and curates an incredibly thorough website about music theory). In any case, the result was just a demo of me singing the lyrics to the melody I came up with after some trial and error, but I’m happy with it. One day, I’d love to turn the demo into an actual song.
The reason why I thought to ask was because SoundQuest (PLUGMON) asked for my advice about the English wording for one of the lines of a song he was putting the finishing touches on, and that discussion about music naturally gave me inspiration to bring back to my own project! If you’re curious, you can listen to the soft, heartfelt science fiction inspired song here — and definitely read the notes in the description, as they tie everything together:
House of TARG is a very peculiar live music venue, featuring walls of classic arcade game machines, and a pierogi-centric menu. It was pure chance that I happened to look up live music events in the city a month earlier and happened upon the Eventbrite page for this one before tickets sold out: Ichi-Bons opening for 5.6.7.8’s. A Japanese band? In my city? I bought my ticket on the spot. Not only that, but 5.6.7.8’s are an incredibly well-renowned all-women garage rock band — while the Ichi-Bons were a very cool-sounding surf and rockabilly trio hailing from Toronto. A really cool combination that I was excited to hear in action.
I hurried home after work and got ready to go, intending to order myself some pierogis when I got there… but I was so flustered and anxious that I couldn’t bring myself to go up to the bar. Which was okay. It happens. The atmosphere was really warm and relaxed though, with the musicians walking through the bar before their set, getting drinks, chatting, and wandering over to the stage to make last-minute adjustments. As much as I love an impressive, big-stage production, there is a lot of charm to be found in small-venue performances like this one.
Ichi-bons were up first and they really electrified the room, getting everyone moving with their fast-paced, high energy bangers! I particularly enjoyed their zombie song, which was interspersed with screams — the title of a song before it was a literal scream too. Cheeky is the word that came to mind when I was thinking of how to describe their set; good old-school rock!
They packed up their instruments and left the stage, then the three members of 5.6.7.8’s replaced them, each of them bringing a tote bags onstage. They set themselves up, and then they got the whole joint dancing to their rock ‘n roll tones with catchy tunes, singalongs, screams, and shouts!
At one point, the drummer asked the crowd (in very good English) how to say cheers in French. Santé!, we cried out in reply. She thanked us, they echoed the phrase, and then added, 乾杯！Their sound and stage presence was just fantastic; each of them masterful in their playing. I had a blast and couldn’t stop grinning.
When the main set ended, the entire room crammed with people in front of the stage, we weren’t ready to leave, so we called them all back, insisting “one more song!” and lucky for us, they obliged and gave us several!
わざわざオタワに来て頂いてありがとう！
It was an incredibly fun, rock-filled night.
The day after, Moonfruits played an outdoor, evening concert at Lansdowne when the weather was still warm but not hot. I headed there right after work, early enough to go have a pizza before their set started. I’ve been rather obsessed with white sauce pizza lately…
Moonfruits played with a cellist as their guest and immediately drew the outdoor audience in with an enchanting duet and their easy conversation, telling us all a bit about what their latest Canadian tour had been like, prefacing songs with explanations about their origins centered in family history and recent experiences. The last time I saw them was at their Salt album release party, and so this time it was lovely to hear a setlist that included some of the gems from that album along with older pieces.
There were lots of parents with their children in the audience, and eventually some of the kids dragged their parents up to the front of the seating area to dance near the stage. It was adorable… until one of the kids decided to pull his pants down and, well, moon Moonfruits.
The kid’s mom was mortified, and couldn’t stop giggling nervously as she pulled his clothes back up and whisked him away.
(I laughed nearly to the point of tears)
It was the exact opposite of the soft, folk sound of Moonfruits, and that’s what made it so damn funny.
Gradually, the parents and their kids left as the night wore on (as adorable as the antics had been, I think we were all glad that the last third of the set had a calmer audience), and they played sing-along pieces like Seven Billion and some French folk classics (most notably à la clairefontaine, which is utterly beautiful every time I hear them play it) that we stomped and sang along with. It felt like an outdoor kitchen party… until they lulled us into quiet contemplation under a nearly-full moon with their beautiful song Moon Cradle.
A few days later, I took a trip to the outer edges of the city to see The Smashing Pumpkins. I’d been feeling emotional all afternoon and had developed a headache and some nausea and had initially decided not to go, but as the night wore on, and I finally managed to eat some supper, I decided to go — provided I could make the bus that would get me there just before their start time (I missed Interpol, unfortunately!).
I did make it. Cuddled into my Chiko & Saga hoodie, I settled into my seat and joined in on the enthusiastic cheers and applause as the band took to the stage. I was there, and I was elsewhere at the same time, wondering what Saga would think of the spaceship-style angular lighting above the stage, and which songs he’d be most stoked to hear. The set and the stage lighting felt a lot heavier somehow than the last time I’d seen them, and the setlist was a really great mix of new pieces from ATUM and older, much-adored pieces.
Like any great rock show, the music gradually took my mind off of feeling physically unwell and I just floated in their sound, transported out of my body and into an imagined space. The floodgates opened right off the bat when they began playing Perfect and I continued to cry through Disarm because it was just so unbelievably beautiful, like the sound of the song was blooming and wafting up toward the ceiling. I don’t know how to explain it — the song just had a life of its own in the performing of it.
And after I’d let those emotions out, I felt a little lighter, and just enjoyed the hell out of the rest of the concert for what it was: a really wicked rock show by one of my favourite bands.
They opened with The Everlasting Gaze and Doomsday Clock both of which I loved hearing, and later on played an unexpected favourite of mine: The Celestials. Like the last concert I went to, I was glad that WPC and James did a soothing acoustic version of Tonight, Tonight… and Jimmy’s drum solo later on in the evening was just awesome.
During Beguiled, WPC’s two kiddos rushed onto the stage and began dance wildly behind him as he went into his guitar solo, prompting delighted chuckles from the crowd (it was completely unexpected, and absolutely adorable). Rock show that it was, there was so much good humour threaded throughout it.
WPC and Katie sang a gorgeous duet; the choruses of Spellbinding and Purple Blood were so satisfying live; the classics of Ava Adore, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Zero, Cherub Rock, and 1979 were awesome — completely lit up the crowd, me included.
I’m so glad that I got myself to the venue in time to see them again; I was tired as I made my way home, but I felt energized, too.
I had my alarm set weeks in advance to wake up early and set up the living room to attend ALICE NINE.’s grand finale from afar. I set up a moon light on the windowsill near the loveseat and Scout hopped up to lie down beside it, as though he could sense the gravity and anticipation in the air.
There were audio and connection issues in the beginning and so I missed the first thirty seconds, but then–
アリス九號. never fails to surprise me, and it was in exactly that way that the Last Galaxy live began. I truly hadn’t expected the first song in the setlist to be GEMINI-0-eternal, but when they then leapt right into 閃光 after it I was both delighted and confused at the choice. Until I understood what they were actually doing!
The idea to weave the GEMINI suite evenly among the other songs in the main setlist was an incredible one, not least because it’s something they’d never decided to do before. But Saga is a storyteller when it comes to music.
It truly was a climax of a live the whole way through, with them playing their hearts out during each and every song; they were absolutely bursting with confidence and good humour (or intensity) as they played so many beloved big numbers and classics from their discography. The beauty of this live wasn’t simply the songs they played, but the energy and atmosphere they gave off while playing the flow of this setlist.
Even just watching from home, I was in awe and felt so proud of the amazing live they played — a culmination of their history, their hard work together, and also a celebration of the sheer fun they have onstage performing music for us 九組達.
A celebration of the world of sound they created, one that transports us to imagined realms.
They did two encores… and if you think I didn’t sit on my loveseat at home and clap, chanting アンコール in time with everyone at the venue until they came back on stage, you’re mistaken 🙂
アンコール！アンコール！★ミ
I love that they did the G3 line dance on stage, and from there it just got wilder and wilder! The sheer hotness of Saga headbanging his way through the song… the sheer hilarity of a drummer in a Nao-mask coming to replace Nao on drums so that he could run around in the crowd for a couple minutes… lol! Utter fun to see how this classic retained its roots and grew into something even bigger.
Ending the first encore on 春夏秋冬 was so feel-good and it’s kind of wonderful that the song has mostly stayed the same since the beginning. You might say the song is like a time capsule of their energy from 2005!
I chanted アンコール with great anticipation before they returned to play the second and final encore.
I teared up at the beginning of Waterfall, but by the end was smiling again at how beautifully they brought the song to life. Shou then thanked everyone individually in a quiet, heartfelt MC, during which Saga gave him a hug instead of replying in words. After that, it was time for the big, beautiful finale.
Grace and the beautiful name.
A breathtakingly beautiful flow of songs to purify the heart.
To me, the beautiful name has always been and will always be pure joy.
Next to beauty of Waterfall and Grace, it soared even higher.
言葉にあまりできないほどに、素晴らしかったです…♡
After the live, Saga made sure to point out the two suites besides GEMINI that had been nestled into the live. birth in the death and Living Dead, which were played during the setlist flow between GEMINI-I-the void and GEMINI-II-the luv, form a suite that links the GEMINI album to the GRACE album. Then, at the very end and for the first time, they played Grace and the beautiful name one after the other — the second suite, this one connecting GRACE to VANDALIZE. Thus, Saga explained afterwards, GEMINI GRACE VANDALIZE are not a circle of albums (as I had been thinking), but a line — with I. as the first song and Waterfall as the ending of the album trilogy.
I love Saga, the way he thinks and creates ♡♪
So without further ado, the piece I made inspired by some of the compositions Saga has made that I love most. The day before the live I woke up with an image in my mind and spent the rest of the morning trying to draw it on the page… even colouring the piece in and picking the perfect dried flowers out of my collection to add to the imagery.
The Phoenix of the jelly fish Galaxy
Within a universe of pure white darkness floats a galaxy like a jelly fish inside which the life force of a Phoenix will be burning bright for eternity 真っ白な闇という宇宙には 浮かんでる海月のような 銀河の中で Phoenixの命の炎が 永久に燃えてるよ
May our Last Galaxy be graced.
For this art piece, I borrowed from the concept of birth in the death and Phoenix again, as well as GRADATION and jelly fish — and I borrowed from the grandeur, love, and beauty of songs like Grace, the beautiful name, GEMINI, and Waterfall… another little homage 🙂
One flower is gently floating off into the void of pure white darkness (a favourite bit of lyric symbolism), and another flower has just bloomed on the jellyfish galaxy. Or is the galaxy a phoenix? Or is the phoenix a universe? Are those little golden raindrops stars or nascent galaxies, tiny-huge nebulas?
I wonder… ♪
Thank you so much アリス九號.… Thank you.
I enjoyed this live to the fullest and I think Saga did too… the setlist was gorgeous.
Until we meet again, let’s protect ALICE NINE.’s world and the songs that made it.
Saga with all the other members of ALICE NINE. — SHOU, HIROTO, TORA, and Nao — will take to the stage in a grand finale, thanks to the tireless efforts of their staff and the whole team behind the scenes helping to set everything up and make it as magical as possible.
I won’t be there in person, but I will be there in spirit, thanks to the live broadcast that they’re putting on for everyone who wasn’t able to make it out or wasn’t able to get their hands on a ticket (because they went so quickly!). During his pizza party the other night, Saga said with a laugh that their last rehearsal before the finale had “felt normal” and that’s kind of how I feel going into this live as a fan.
It’s bittersweet to not have been able to manage going in person, but even knowing that it’s their last planned live for some time (as you can never know what the future holds, or what things each member will pursue after the freeze), it still feels strangely normal. Part of that feeling might stem from the fact that I already knew it was possible that the last live of theirs I’d get to attend would be last November — and so I enjoyed every moment then to the fullest. I wish I’d been able to go to the tour this summer… but even having wanted to do that, I don’t regret in any way going in November instead and having the experiences there that I did. It was the right time to go. And it healed something inside of me. And goddamn were those lives ever fun. Incredible. Being bathed in the visceral sound of Saga’s bass lines… 🙂
I know that Last Galaxy is not a normal live, and I know that I’ll feel that fully when I’m in the moment. Right now what I feel is gratitude — that I get to attend this moment from afar. There was no live broadcast for TOKYO GALAXY, and there was no broadcast for their 10th anniversary pre-hiatus live either. But I get to be there in spirit for this historical, emotional, sure-to-be-amazing live.
If Saga felt like the rehearsal was “normal” then maybe that means that he feels satisfied with the setlist he proposed, and that none of them felt rushed or unsatisfied with the flow of the live they are choosing to play together. Sounds like readiness, confidence, and peace to me.
The perfect emotional base upon which to heat up that venue and rock us all out, move us deeply.
I’m so excited to hear, see, and experience this live that as soon as I woke up I started drawing and writing something as a little homage to this momentous occasion. And now I’m off to add the finishing touches 🙂
It’s been a very long time coming, but I finally got a copy of ALICE NINE.’s live bluray from last year, Funeral No.999 and I’m thinking I’ll save it to watch it on my birthday. I do (surprisingly) have one small thing planned for the afternoon that day, but an evening of watching a live (twice — the commentary will be round 2) sounds like a very good way to spend it.
I watched とつくにの少女 (The Girl from the Other Side) last night and it was so featherlight, sweet, and eerily beautiful. The ephemeral animation style was a perfect complement to the story (much like the art style in the manga, of course).
This morning, Scout and I are watching the anime classic 銀河鉄道の夜 (Night on the Galactic Railroad) for the first time, and it’s simply wonderful, though sad. Campanella… and the scorpion with a heart of flaming light… and sweet, diligent Giovanni… (;_;)
I decided to try making a rough sketch of the walker I had imagined for Sister from The Seven Ravens; of course, she would have carved and engraved the wood-frame walker with the star symbol herself.
X JAPAN’s new song ANGEL is so beautiful with its ethereal vocal melody and the fluttering piano notes.
My younger brother got engaged this week which was something I was hoping would happen for a long time now. I’m truly happy for him and my sister-in-law to-be. I listened to a tiny playlist of two favourite songs to mark the occasion, as I lay down to go to sleep that night…
Within about a day of ALICE NINE.’s tickets for their September 3rd live going on general sale, they completely sold out. That’s a great achievement for the band, but as Saga rightfully pointed out, it also means that a lot of people who wanted to go attend in person won’t be able to (even if a small number of people who bought tickets sell them afterwards). I’m in that boat myself, though for a different reason altogether. I have to admit, I find it odd that they only allowed sale of THANKS tickets directly to international attendees, and didn’t give them the option of buying regular tickets as well (though I’m very glad that they did create an international-friendly sales page). Especially considering THANKS tickets holders are furthest back and the last to enter for standing. International attendees would have been happy to pay for full-price tickets, just like everyone else…
But that’s neither here nor there. It’s all done now. SHOU did tweet months ago when the freeze was originally announced that there would be a broadcast of some kind, so I’m hoping that will be the case, and that I (and lots of others) will be able to attend virtually. It’s the next best thing! I will never say no to waking up extra early for an ALICE NINE. live…★
Given that I truly can’t attend the Last Galaxy final in person (and not just because tickets are now sold out), I’m going to attend the show that the Smashing Pumpkins are playing in Ottawa for their The World Is A Vampire tour.
Now I’d better go get ready for the engagement party. If I have time, I’ll make blueberry scones to bring for dessert…
Saga and ALICE NINE. have completed their Act 4 Summer tour and now all that’s left is the big finale in September. It seems pretty definitive that I won’t be able to travel to Japan and attend in person… but I will be with Saga and the band in spirit. It is sad… logistically, I just can’t see a way to do it, barring a miracle. So I’m just going to support and cheer on from afar and look forward to (hopefully) going to attend something that Saga does after the freeze… ♡♪
I’m currently working on interview translations for the deep-dive for Funeral (so much glorious content) and then I’ll move on to the GEMINI suite. It is strange, I admit, but even though I consider the GEMINI suite (and album, of course) to have been such a huge influence in my art, I’ve kind of been skirting around the prospect of translating the lyrics of the suite in full. Oh, I’ve read them many times (listened even more) — it’s just that, I’ve been afraid of making them sound less epic than they are. But that’s silly. The original poetry will shine through no matter what. It helps that a fellow 9kumi asked me if I planned to do deep-dives on those songs, giving me an even more concrete reason to face that imposter syndrome and just do the thing!
So there you have it.
I’m doing it.
And the imagery of the lyrics is exactly as rich, as introspective, and as epic as the music sounds.
It was much later than I’d planned, but I finally recorded the Brothers Grimm fairytale that I rewrote to start the newest series that will be part of The Side B Anthology: Sable’s Tales, or ST for short. It was really fun to adapt The Seven Ravens in my own writing style and so I will slowly add more to the series. It was fun to record the narration too, of course; here’s an outtake of me making fun of one of my voices to Scout (who attended the recording by snoozing underneath the comforter of the bed behind me).
This weekend I intended to sit down at my laptop and write more for Casseltaur, but instead had a sudden flash of inspiration for the next fairytale re-write so I ended up typing away at that instead until I had a first draft. As a kid, one of my favourites was Little Red Riding Hood, but having read a few versions and retellings over the years, I had a very clear idea of how I wanted to shape it in my own words.
This is basically just a fix-it fic lol.
Casseltaur, meanwhile, gets weirder each time I sit down to do the worldbuilding for it.
Which, of course, is a good thing. :p
I’m now on week two at my new job and the amount of change it has brought about in my day-to-day life already is incredible. Scout and I get lots more time together, for one thing. Aside from that, my commute is actually pretty energizing now (what?!), and I have so much more time and energy during the week to clean, run errands, and even write and translate. The new team I’ve joined are great bunch of clever, funny people and I’ve barely scratched the surface so far of what I’m going to need to learn to do this new job correctly, but they’re all very supportive, and this kind of challenge is exactly what I wanted.
Also, this week I started watching episodes of Gundam The Witch From Mercury before work while eating breakfast. It really takes me back to my childhood, watching anime in the morning over a bowl of cereal… キャリバーンがやっとデター！Obviously I want to watch the latest Dragon Ball stuff (lol), but the next thing on my list is とつくにの少女 (The Girl From The Other Side), which I started reading the manga of a year or so ago, but stopped because I couldn’t get the next volume, I think. In any case, I hope watching it will be just as beautiful and mysterious.
In terms of live-action TV, what I recently finished watching was the arctic season (6) of the survival series “Alone” (set in Northwest Territories, Canada). I used to watch quite a number of similar wilderness survival series back in the day because seeing people living off the land and personally finding the pockets of abundance in a given landscape is both impressive and soothing, in a way. CONTEXT and Casseltaur both involve living in an arctic zone at some points in the plot, so my watching was sort of research-ish…? I did learn a number of really cool facts as I watched, anyway.
Also: one of the survival experts was basically an arctic Forrest Gump… if that isn’t a good enough endorsement, I don’t know what is. Haha.
One of the survival experts made an incredibly beautiful, durable shelter and was just so adept at creating handmade things from natural materials. Another was doing fine in terms of shelter and food but decided to leave early because he realized that time with his wife and kids was more valuable than the prize money (or bragging rights) he could win if he spent more time away from them… nothing but respect from me for that mindset.
Last night it was a documentary about the concept of infinity that I watched (A Trip to Infinity) and it was a delightfully strange thought exercise for my mind — it gave me goosebumps in the best possible way. I think it’s safe to consider this research-ish as well. As much time as I’ve spent thinking about the concept of infinity and of how our universe is configured, there were several things I hadn’t considered before — facts that tilted, stretched, and reframed my imagination and thinking on the subject.
The office surprised me with a pizza lunch the day before my last, and I really do mean surprised. I was working the last thirty minutes til my actual lunchtime, enjoying my music and the stillness of the room as everyone else went to work in another, when my fellow team lead came up to my desk with a serious question and asked if we could go talk. I felt kind of concerned and followed her. She led me to the closed board room door saying we should talk in there and motioned for me to open the door. When I saw that the room was completely full of coworkers apparently having a meeting, I automatically made to close the door, but before it was shut, everyone was saying “surprise!”
Feeling somewhere between sheepish and embarrassed, I went inside and thanked them (my fellow team lead had not allowed me to shut the door and make the tactical retreat I had intended to).
My embarrassment wore off as they started cutting the pizzas, and I thanked them all again (also mock-complained, “you guys really got me!”). Those two huge slices were definitely a tasty alternative to the sandwich that I had brought with me that morning.
Then, finally, it was my last day at the office I’d been working at for years, that I was going in to every day for most of the pandemic. I’d had quite a bit of notice and time to prepare beforehand so all of my responsibilities and jobs had been neatly handed over to others before I left (with plenty of time to train each person and make sure they were comfortable with the hand-over), the result being that I had no regrets upon stepping out the door for the last time yesterday afternoon.
I felt light, ready for the next chapter of my life to begin.
So I decided to kick it off by leaving early and going to Bluesfest for the first time since 2019.
Going back to this music festival after so many years was fun, even comforting — but I am also so much more centered now than I was back then. It didn’t feel like a new beginning, it felt like taking the next step in my life by leaving my old job, and then setting foot in this familiar place, days away from starting a new one.
The weather was warm but the breeze was cool making of the evening a perfect one for going to see some bands play outdoors.
I was a little late arriving to the River Stage for the first act, Pony Girl, so I encountered them mid-song, having never heard them play before. They were having such a blast on stage, it was impossible not to get into their music. When they suddenly played a clarinet solo outta left field, I knew I was in the right place, their songs delightfully unusual — art pop being a music genre I hadn’t been familiar with until their performance. Thumbs up for these talented, energetic, local musicians!
The frontman told the crowd they were having an amazing time playing for us that evening, which was especially important considering the night before had been the exact opposite: their rehearsal space had started flooding… with sewage. Yikes, man. He gave us extremely clear (read: comically roundabout) directions to the merch tent to buy their new album, and then got emotional thanking us for coming out to see them — because there’s nothing quite as special as “playing music with your best friends.”
And it showed. They just kept grinning at one another, sharing said jam session among friends with us, the crowd.
We cheered as they ended their set and began clearing away their instruments and equipment for the next band as the sun began to set.
As the sun continued to set, casting warm golden light onto the stage, Allison Russell came out with her band, beaming at us in her glittering blazer. Though she lives and works in the US, Allison Russell explained (en français) that she grew up in Montréal and that performing at Ottawa Bluesfest had been a longtime dream of hers. A dream so big that she’d missed her daughter’s first performance in a play to fulfil it… and we, the crowd, were grateful for her and her band’s presence that night.
I’d never heard any of Allison Russell’s music before and was touched by her lyrical storytelling through her radiant singing voice and radiant, radical message of love, peace, and acceptance. She spoke of growing up with an abusive adoptive father, of running away from the abuse, finding her chosen family, and of slowly unlearning the shame that her adoptive father had forced on her through his white supremacist ideals. It made the overpowering sense of love, compassion, empathy, and acceptance in her songs that much more beautiful. She introduced each member of the band as part of her circle, her chosen family, and all four of them radiated with purpose as they played, whether the song was sad and heartfelt or whether it was uplifting and euphoric.
They took their final bow to our enthusiastic applause.
The crowd packed in elbow-to-elbow as they cleared away equipment and rearranged the stage between bands; the sun had set entirely when Fleet Foxes came onstage as a cheer went up from the crowd. Their opening vocal harmonies were so soft, so clear, and finally seeing them live I understood that up to four band members would sing together at once for those beautiful, layered melodies, that it wasn’t several tracks layered together as I had figured. It was a wonder to see and to hear. I was also fascinated by all the different instruments they played throughout the performance.
The crowd was utterly thrilled by the performance (me included), singing along to songs, whooping, cheering, calling out to the band — and the band seemed pleasantly surprised by this enthusiasm, with the frontman continually exclaiming “thank you so much!” with a grin after almost every song.
Hey man, that’s our line! 🙂
It was particularly meaningful to me to hear Your Protector, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Blue Spotted Tail live, three of my favourite songs by them. Your Protector gave me chills… Blue Spotted Tail was so quiet and beautiful, the lyrics deeply touching. Something about Blue Ridge Mountain’s lyrics just puts the coziest sort of image in my mind.
I heard about their self-titled album through one of Saga’s entries on his old ameblo. It wasn’t nearly as easy to sample albums back in those days, so I just decided to trust Saga’s taste and buy it on a whim — it became one of the most-listened to albums in my library (especially when I was writing), and is the album that clued me in to the fact that folk rock is one of my favourite genres. Thanks, Saga! ♪
They played right up until the minute it turned 11, and then they stopped and left the stage… an Ottawa bylaw prohibits loud noises past that time, so even though the whole crowd was ready to call out “one more song!” (and I’m sure the band would have wanted to play one) they wouldn’t have been allowed to do an encore.
It was a gorgeous concert.
I made my way home, tired but glad that I’d gotten to hear such great sets, and went to bed as Saga and アリス九號., on the other side of the world, were setting up to play what would turn out to be a seriously wild and passionate live at 新潟NEXS… ♡♪
A couple evenings ago, Stephany and I met up again in order to attend another concert at the NAC. Last time we’d gone to see a concert that featured Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (and a disco ball out in the main hall afterwards, to our delight), and this time we were out to see a concert featuring Bryan Cheng, a cellist from our hometown of Ottawa.
This time, we had plenty of time before the concert was to start so we decided to go chat over milkshakes beforehand. We got our wires crossed right off the bat though, when I wasn’t clear enough with one of my texts, and so I went to the mall to meet her and she went right to the the milkshake bar. Luckily, we realized the mix-up quickly and I power walked my way to meet her where she’d already saved us the best seat in the house.
Not only is the name For God Shakes a great pun, the milkshakes were also pretty damn good. We talked about work a little, and then finished up our shakes over anecdotes about our cats because Scout and Marcel are always zooming around and getting up to silliness.
In this case, said silliness was getting their humans so distracted with talking about them that said humans had to dash out of the shop or risk being late for the concert! So off we went as quickly as we could, stopping only for a moment to laugh about the fact that we’d both worn cuffed pants and boots that were very similar in style. Our power walking didn’t quite cut it, though, and we arrived just a minute too late to go in. We had to stand outside the doors and watch the first piece in the concert from a screen before they would let us in.
Then, when they did let us in, we arrived at our seats but were perplexed when we found that they were already occupied. A pair of elderly ladies, thinking that they would remain vacant, chose to move into them but upon seeing our confused and/or frantic looks explained and moved without us even having to ask. I was thankful for that because I’d just about entered anxiety-mode and begun wondering if I’d read the map wrong and gone to the wrong side of the room! Crisis averted. We hurriedly settled into our seats and then Bryan Cheng and the conductor readied themselves and launched into the second piece.
The piece was brought to life beautifully by the orchestra and the cello had such a soft, warm sound. After that piece, the conductor left the stage and Bryan Cheng regaled the audience of his hometown with an unusual and lovely piece on the cello that would probably normally be meant for a fiddle. He also gave us all a good chuckle by demonstrating a “chop” on the cello (he very dramatically rapped the strings on the bridge once with his hand before starting the piece).
This bit of levity (followed by much applause and cheering afterwards) led into the intermission and Stephany and I got to talking about Japanese studies and using the Japanese language. She told me a little about what the most advanced Japanese course offered in the city was like, and I told her about the kanji studying app I was back to using after half a year away from it (Kanji Study — it’s incredibly versatile for self-directed study especially… I used it before taking the N2). I also told her that the JLPT is now offered in our city (and that we no longer need to travel to Toronto for it).
…I still intend to achieve N1 certification, even if it takes me a couple tries.
But I digress.
The orchestra returned to the stage, the lights dimmed, and once more they drew us into an incredible piece of music that was filled with so much energy and dramatic high points. I normally get lulled into a doze partway through classical concerts because they’re so relaxing, but this music had me awake from start to finish! Despite the fact that we missed the first piece of the night, it was a gorgeous concert and we both had a good evening taking it all in… which is not to mention how enjoyable it was to catch up too!
On the way back to the train, we got to talking about the last piece and what we’d each imagined, and it was so interesting that while we both got the same energetic impression of the music, we both imagined different scenery: Stephany imagined a stormy sea and running through a forest, while I imagined huge snowdrifts and powdery snow blowing up and away in the wind.
It’s a given (that is, researchers have proven) that music is not a human language, does not have communicative structures in the way that the many thousands of human languages have and have had. Qualitatively, they are not the same, even though they both allow for written forms, and have been standardized while still maintaining an incredible fluidity in expression, permitting innovation and improvisation on the part of any speaker, signer, or musician.
Language exists to make possible conversation — that is, there is always a person conveying a message and a person decoding the message according to some agreed-upon meaning. Music absent of any accompanying words (that is, mutually-intelligible language) does not exist to engender conversation. It doesn’t convey information but rather atmosphere and emotion in all the nuance that standard dictionary definitions and poetry can’t quite manage; as such, it also has less precision and interpretation is far more open-ended.
The open-ended nature of its interpretation of meaning is something that many humans don’t enjoy, preferring music to be accompanied by words in a language they can understand (lyrics) or that music be in the background of a scene of some kind (like in movies, or in a play).
Listening to or feeling music by itself, unaccompanied by precise, mutually-intelligible words or a scene of some kind is an act of deep reflection or a journey into memory. What does the arrangement of sound make you feel? What do you imagine from the music alone? What do you think the composer might have been feeling or imagining as they crafted or improvised the piece? What do you think the musician who played the piece was thinking or imagining as they played it?
These questions are far more readily answered when words or scenes are included; it becomes a conversation, a set of signposts to guide you.
Without these, music is music.
A living memorial to feeling, to atmosphere, to thought, to impression, just as open to individual interpretation and imagination as its structure can be replicated by other skilled musicians. But its structure being replicable does not mean that its originally intended meaning can be fully divined by the one doing the replication (or interpretation).
Furthermore, a great deal of theory and structure underlies the creating (or playing) of music, but listening to it, even reproducing it without any knowledge of this, is possible. Paradoxically.
Like repeating a word or a phrase that you like the sound, the feel of, in a language you have no knowledge of. You repeat the word or the phrase finding it beautiful or meaningful in some way, without knowing its agreed-upon significance to another person or group.
Music by itself is like a perpetually foreign language, an atmosphere, a feel to be enjoyed and appreciated without needing to understand it in a concrete way.
Poetry can offer the same pleasure (or discomfort, depending upon the individual), eschewing sometimes the conventional in order to play with words in an idiosyncratic way, one that might not allow for easy understanding between the poet and the admirer. But that absence of immediate, standardized understanding is what makes it and music an art form. They require time, thought, feeling — and a willingness to engage both in introspection and in extending empathy toward the other party.
Should poetry written in gibberish, then, be considered in the same vein as wordless music?
I woke up before sunrise today, and this (possibly incoherent line of questioning) was what was on my mind.
For this, the longest train ride of the trip, I came prepared with material to translate on my phone and a mocha to enjoy whenever there were sights to sit back and enjoy from out the window. I also finally wore my tour t-shirt and adorned my eyelids with a deep purple shadow.
The view of Mount Fuji this time around was even clearer.
The walk to this venue, tucked away past a residential area in an industrial district, was pretty interesting. So interesting that, even though I stayed on the right track the whole time, I thought I was getting lost.
First, I came upon a grey cat casually grooming itself on top of the hood of a parked car, then I crossed into a residential area and passed a small park with cute, hand-painted signs featuring well-known characters along its perimeter, and finally I trekked into the industrial district… which felt largely abandoned until I hit another street and fell into step with some other 九組 heading past a convenience store towards the venue proper.
I arrived just as they were starting to call everyone into the venue sequentially, so I got within hearing range of the staff member and waited my turn to go into the cool, high-ceilinged warehouse the live was to be held in. By the time I got inside, it had already filled up quite a bit, but again from my position more towards the back, I still got to stand opposite Saga in the crowd and had a great view of the whole stage. This time, I actually did switch out my Groovy Chiko hoodie for my much lighter stained glass robe so I was more than ready to dance, jump, and headbang the night away.
Before long, the lights dimmed, and we all began to clap, tempting the members onto the stage…
On this the night of the semi-final, and the sixth repetition of their opening songs for the setlist during this tour, they were well-practiced in performing Living Dead and Answer, all of us in the audience responding to the music enthusiastically in kind. Adding to the gradual flow from dark and rhythmic to lighter and more melodic, they then starting playing the utterly cheerful TSUBASA., the crowd bobbing along to its upbeat notes. Next, they turned up the heat, whipping us into a fervor and working up a sweat with the speed of 百科繚乱.
Too fast to live, too young to die!
Our bodies all warmed up, we then fell into the luxurious sway of their song Moondance and again I was very glad to have a bit of elbow room closer to the back where I was so that I could dance to my heart’s content. Next came BABYLON, with Saga’s initial solo, made more challenging by the restraints that were part of his stage outfit. He gave the song the dark, decadent introduction it deserved, and then together the members drew us into a strange caper, or rather a wonderland of weird dimensions. BABYLON has always given me very interesting (not to mention clear) mental images.
I love that they debuted 界 not by releasing it as a single, but by playing it at a live, during a fest. 界 is just awesome and definitely gets even more impactful in a live setting. In particular for this performance, they had smoke machines going, so at certain points from my vantage further back in the room, the stage was just a dense red fog. It increased the intense feel of the song even more.
To the gods of rock, we did pray.
As the dark chords of our collective prayer stilled, a staff member helped Saga switch out 焔 for an acoustic guitar, and thus began Envy, as enchanting and as soothing as ever. Then we were treated to another amazing performance of Saga’s on acoustic guitar for INSOMNIA. I love that song so much… it’s one I often recommend to people who’ve never listened to ALICE NINE. music before and I’m so happy I got to hear it during the course of the tour. When the soaring and diving melody of the song had faded, every member except for Nao left the stage.
For the Drum Solo this time, Nao surprised us towards the end by getting out two neon pink glowsticks to drum with, and then threw them over his shoulders at the end in an imitation of the Drum Solo caught on film from their HELLO,DEAR NUMBERS live DVD. I loved that little nod to ALICE NINE. history. The audience participation has been so much fun each night, and we were all energized and ready to go for the intensity of the next song, as the other four members returned to the stage.
After another powerful rendition of Roar, I was very excited when they started playing カルマ, a song with a great sound tucked away on the Stargazer: single. We all let loose for the rare treat of a song, and then slipped into RAINBOWS, the room filling with lights of every colour as we jumped, headbanged, and danced. I knew it would be my last time dancing to RAINBOWS for a while, so it was even more blissful an experience than the last few nights.
During Funeral, I danced to the ribbon of Saga’s bassline, enjoying the way everyone else’s instruments and Show’s vocals intertwined to bring the incredibly cool song together. Exodus: built on that momentum, to lead into the frenetic heat and cool rhythm of 開戦前夜. After which, I gave myself up to the soothing sway of Farewell Flowers, floating in its notes.
The members left the stage and it was our turn to make some noise and encourage them to return to play the Encore. I was in a strange headspace, feeling both incredibly present in the experience I was having of the live, while also feeling a measure of disbelief that it was actually happening. The feel of being packed into a smaller, more intimate livehouse this time as opposed to the larger, assigned-seating halls for the lives I had been able to attend before 2020 happened was exactly what I’d needed. The energy of each performance was so warm, so casual, and yet so well-rehearsed and passionate. It did feel like being enveloped in the sound and mindscape of ALICE NINE., a world of sound that the members had worked so hard to build and protect for 18 years and counting, with the help of everyone over the years who chose to listen and show up in whatever big or small ways they were able to.
I think part of what I’d felt this time around was that I was seeing the more experienced version of the band I’d fallen in love with in the first place, so many years ago. The way that Saga plays bass in this emotional, melodic, understated way, then turns around and plays the chords heavy like a growl, headbanging all the while. The way Show commands the front podium with bright, distinctive vocals and an edge, putting words to the music. The way that Nao is very serious about the quality of his drumming, but so often seems like he’s just having fun. The way that Tora starts to grin when they’re playing a cheerful song out of their extensive repertoire (and sometimes during heavy songs too). The way that Hiroto is both intense and apt to visit other members during their most well-practiced classics. We all focus on different things, and even though I’ve tried to kind of describe the way I see what happens on stage, it is inevitable that words fall short — and that someone else would experience the same timespan in an entirely different way.
Saga’s understated passion on stage every night was so inspiring to experience again.
So, all of that and more was what I continued to chant encore! for.
When they heeded our cries for more and returned to the stage, gratitude and love were on my mind as they began to play Ray. Show’s singing of the beautiful lyrics gave the song definition, and my eyes were on Saga as he played its rhythm with a buoyant tenderness. Not knowing when I would get to hear this favourite played in person again, I placed my hands over my heart and held the magical atmosphere close.
They followed that emotional song with the absolute blast that is 春夏秋冬. Such fun!
I knew that Grace would be last, but it cast as strong a spell on me as ever as they played it. I was completely in the zone, feeling the music and dancing to the sounds by instinct. Grace is so alive that it just flows through the body, uplifting and beautiful.
It was the perfect note to end on for the semi-final of their tour and for my trip as a whole.
Whenever I hadn’t been closing my eyes, fully feeling the sound and the music in the room, my attention had been fixed on Saga, who was absolutely incredible up on stage, rocking out to each song (love when he headbangs while playing!), and making me feel even more wildly happy to be there. There’s nothing like literally feeling the music rumbling through the venue.
It was an unforgettable night.
An incredible tour.
Worth the wait.
I stood by the water afterward to take in the sight of the venue lit warmly in the dark and to let the memory of the night settle in my chest. Then I backed away and turned around to retrace my steps back to the station. I didn’t need my phone; my feet remembered the way, carried me through the quiet dark of the industrial district, then past the children’s park in the residential neighbourhood, and across a main thoroughfare, beyond which I’d be able to reach the subway entrance.
I stopped for a minute or two to hide a smile at some artwork by local kids on display in the subway tunnels on the way to the platforms. But then I forced myself to press on to the station so that I got back to Tokyo early enough to catch one of the last local trains back to the hotel.
The ride was calm and I spent a lot of it lost in my own thoughts. By the time we’d reached the final stop (mine), I was the only traveler left in car 16, and I enjoyed how strange that particular sort of solitude was. I hightailed it to the local connecting train and made the second last trip.
Then… I took a bath.
And replayed moments from the live in my mind.
And drifted off to sleep, the hum of the music still quietly rocking in my soul.
