INDEX
A New Beginning for the Band Built on Trust in the Listener
The combined title for the two-part project has been announced as ”Nemuru – walls or bridges”, and the choice of the conjunction “or” between walls and bridges really stood out. If it had been ”walls and bridges,” it would naturally recall John Lennon’s well-known album ”Walls and Bridges” (1974). Was that album part of the conceptual groundwork for this project?
Suzuki: It wasn’t an influence in a musical sense, but I did feel a strong connection between the Japanese title of that album, ”Kokoro no Kabe, Ai no Hashi” (Walls of the Heart, Bridges of Love), and the concept behind our own album this time. Beyond that, the circumstances under which ”Kokoro no Kabe, Ai no Hashi” was created, as well as its overall atmosphere, were things we did reference to some extent.
“Kokoro no Kabe, Ai no Hashi” is often discussed, historically speaking, as an album that emerged from what’s known as John Lennon’s “lost weekend,” isn’t it? A period when he was viewed with suspicion by the U.S. government, living apart from Yoko Ono, staying in California with his lover, and drinking heavily — by all accounts, a time of deep disillusionment. How do you personally take in an album that was born out of circumstances like that?
Suzuki: I’ve always had this image of John Lennon as someone defined by extremes — huge ups and downs. He feels difficult to approach, in a way [laughs], impulsive even, but the love at the core of him feels completely genuine. I imagine he was a complicated person like that. With “Kokoro no Kabe, Ai no Hashi,” I sense a kind of despair mixed in, something like the backlash of a manic phase in a romantic relationship. The bigger someone’s capacity for love is, the harder the swing back can be. That idea became a hint for us when we were making our own album.
In Laura day romance’s case, you connected “walls” and “bridges” with “or,” and that choice almost feels like standing in front of an unpredictable future, where you don’t yet know what will happen. Why did you decide on “or” as the conjunction?
Suzuki: I think it’s an “or” in the sense that everything comes down to judgment — how you choose to decide. It’s about asking, “Which way do we judge this?” That’s the kind of title we wanted. And honestly, I think it’s also possible that “walls” and “bridges” could be the same thing.
I sometimes feel that storytelling inevitably becomes a kind of document of its creators. To what extent do you think ”Nemuru – walls or bridges” functions as a document of Laura day romance as a band?
Suzuki: For me personally, when it came to making the second half, the decision to allow ourselves to make more aggressive, risk-taking judgments was something rooted in what we’ve built up so far, and in the trust we have in our listeners. We’ve made our major-label debut, and for everyone who’s stayed with us up to this point, there are things we didn’t want to change — mainly matters of quality. Those core elements stay the same, while we’re saying, “We’re going on a new adventure.” The soundscape of this album was born from that choice. In that sense, it does feel like a document of the band, shaped by our history… though, well, who knows.
Kazuki, what do you think?
Inoue: From a vocalist’s perspective, there are always multiple viewpoints at play: the narrator’s perspective, the protagonist’s perspective, and my own. I start from the premise that I need to weave those together in a balanced way as I sing. With that in mind, I feel that my own personal perspective comes through more strongly on “bridges” than it did on “walls.” Rather than fully slipping into the role of a protagonist, or staying purely objective as a narrator, there were more takes this time that were chosen because they felt like my own voice, my own song. My approach to singing also changed between “walls” and “bridges,” and you can hear that shift. In that sense, the visible progression itself might be what makes it feel documentary-like. Though, honestly, I think that applies to all of our work to some extent.
Yuta, how do you see the connection between this album and your own reality as a band?
Isomoto: When I think about the last two or three years for us, a lot has really happened. There were moments when things didn’t quite line up with other people, and about those kinds of issues, we talk as band members on a pretty regular basis. It’s not like we sit down formally and hash things out knee to knee, but we can talk about them casually, in a frank way. Because we’ve built up that kind of communication over time, even without having the album’s theme spelled out in advance, I was able to take this record in as something very personal to me.
Also, the changes in sound between the first and second halves reflect where we want to be headed as a band going forward. Whether it’s the themes or the sonic direction, I feel like the band’s own document is deeply embedded in this album.
