INDEX
Shibata’s Response to Summer Eye’s “Daikichi”: “I like the feeling it doesn’t make things too straightforward”
-How did you feel when you listened to Summer Eye’s album?
Shibata: It was very good! At first I listened to it while walking around with earphones, but then I thought, “Oh, this is the kind of music I should listen to loudly on speakers,” so I did so again.
I thought, “Natsume-kun, you make club music!” and more than anything, I thought it was stylish, and I was impressed by your technique as a musician. Of course, it is not only about technique, but also the overall quality of the music, arrangement, and lyrics.
Natsume: That makes me happy.
Shibata: I don’t want to mention other artists’ names, but I dare say that the lyrics have a quality similar to Sly (Sly & the Family Stone).
Natsume: Oh, I like Sly’s lyrics, too.
Shibata: The lyrics overlap with the atmosphere of the current era, and I feel the attitude of “I have to do my best to survive,” but they also depict sadness and love, which I think is great. I also feel that way when I listen to Sly. It also captures the feeling of “after all, people can’t just do their best …….” I think that’s what Sly is about.
It’s also nice that the song doesn’t make you grasp things in a straightforward manner. I feel that when I talk to Natsume.
Natsume: That’s probably just a quirk. Actually, I always try to choose the easiest way to express myself, but I understand that I end up giving that impression.
For a while I had some trouble with that, and I felt that I wanted to communicate more straightforwardly, but recently I’ve come to think that, well, that’s part of my personality, and that I should just throw a straight ball in my own way.
Shibata: Well, when I hear that, the lyrics sound even more interesting.
Natsume: But from my point of view, I also feel a great strength in you, Mr. Shibata. When you are doing this kind of work and spending a lazy day with no plans, you may feel uneasy and wonder if you are doing the right thing. I asked Mr. Shibata before, “Don’t you ever feel that way? He immediately answered, “No, I don’t.” Shibata: What kind of a dangerous guy are you?
Shibata: You sound like a dangerous guy (laughs). But I am feeling a certain amount of anxiety now. I started a savings NISA the other day, too.
Natsume: (laughs).
Shibata: But even though I am vaguely anxious about the future, I am trying to overcome my worries about my house, family, and daily life by writing songs, which I think is pretty bad.
Music has become like a tool to get over things in my life. So, if music were to disappear, it would be a really bad thing. It was the same with Corona, and our dependence on it is growing rapidly.
Natsume: That is exactly how I feel about the new album. I have the impression that making the album itself has become a prescription.
Shibata: So now all I can think of is, “Music, please don’t abandon me. If music were to be taken away from me, it might be more painful than if my life were to end. In the past, I would have taken the relationship more lightly.
Natsume: There are times when the rate of synchronization with the music I am making increases abnormally. In that sense, this album is not just you “getting on with ‘Satoko Shibata,'” as I said earlier, but rather “becoming one with the songs.
