INDEX
Maybe Everyone’s a Bit Mentally Worn Down
Which song did you feel really became the core of the album?
Sakamoto: Personally, I think ”Is There A Place For You There?” turned into something I had not really done before. It is a song I had been wanting to make for a long time, something built on a very familiar blues progression but that still feels strange, and this was the first time I felt I really got it right.
”Numb” also stands out to me. It feels like a song that would work well live, and that kind of track is actually difficult for me to write. In that sense, I was genuinely happy that it came together.
Which songs on the new album took the longest for the lyrics to come together?
Sakamoto: The ones that were left until the end were ”Numb,” ”Protect Your Brain,” ”The Clock Began To Move,” and ”Why Do This?”
Those are all key songs in the middle of the album. The stretch from ”On The Other Side Of Time” through ”Why Do This?” in particular feels almost painful to listen to. Lines like “the spell is starting to wear off” and “the clock began to move” in ”The Clock Began To Move” really make you stop and wonder what they mean.
Sakamoto: Yes.
The lines “my heart feels thin” and “my body feels slow” in ”Numb” also feel incredibly precise. They can sound like a kind of numbness brought on by the speed of social media or by living in a society shaped by AI, yet the song also says there is no going back. In ”Why Do This?” there is something like an affirmation of music, but it is framed in the past tense.
Sakamoto: Maybe it is because everyone’s hearts are a bit unwell. I think the way it comes across might have something to do with people feeling more sensitive right now. That probably includes me too. This time around, do you think I am really expressing that much anger in the lyrics?
I did not take the lyrics as a direct expression of anger. But compared to your earlier work, it feels like things that might once have been conveyed through different wording or imagery are now being stated more simply, almost as if you are no longer holding back in how you phrase them.
Sakamoto: I heard similar comments when ”Let’s Dance Raw” came out in 2014.
That is true, but this time it feels even more stripped down. And it also seems like the words take shape because they are rooted in what you yourself are feeling.
Sakamoto: I cannot really write about things I do not feel at all, so in that sense they do come from something inside me. At the same time, it is not as though everything in the songs is built solely from my own personal experiences.
