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Solo Acoustic Performance is the Most Effective Mean of Expressing both Melody and Lyrics
-The song “Lemon Tree” features only Miran’s guitar and Tsugumi Yasuda’s violin, which makes it unique on the album. It is one of the most unique songs on the album.
Miran: I borrowed Bonmaru’s gut guitar for this one, and I played it. I thought this was good enough from the time I made the song as a solo piece, so I thought it would be better to have only the guitar playing and the violin accompanying the guitar playing instead of the band. I remember that Kume-san wrote the score exactly for Yasuda-san to play, and again I thought it was great.
– Miran, your live performances are basically storytelling, but sometimes you play with a band.
Miran: To be honest, I haven’t quite grasped the band yet, but I feel like I’m just trying my best to perform with the feeling that Miran, the singer-songwriter, is here. The level of the members is getting higher and higher, so I don’t want to drag them down. But I have been playing and singing for about six years now, and I think I have a better idea of what I should be showing off. I think I can express my singing and lyrics best when I play and sing.
-When did you start to gain confidence in your storytelling?
Miran: But really only recently. At the one-man show at Shimokitazawa 440 last December, I thought so much about it that I even wrote down every word I was going to say during the MC session on a piece of paper.
-That must have been kind of tough.
Miran: That’s right (laughs). (Laughs.) During this period, I was in a hotel in Tokyo for a while because I had started filming a movie. I’ve been working on the album for a long time, and I’ve always been very preoccupied that I had to do it right. I had a studio nearby and was practicing by myself, thinking about the one-man show, but I had to decide on the flow and what I was going to say. I was really sorry to the audience, but it wasn’t a very good feeling. That is why it is best to sing the songs you feel like singing on a particular day. This is when I realized that I should try to sing in a natural way.
