INDEX
Following Her Creative Impulses
-How did you spend your time after graduating from high school?
Kitamura: I had a vague idea that I wanted to be a musician since I was in high school, but I graduated without deciding on anything specific, so I didn’t go to college, and I was working part-time in my hometown while doing music. I wasn’t able to do much right after graduating from Corona, but during that time I wrote songs, studied DTM, and uploaded the songs I wrote to YouTube. The song I wrote at that time is called “Teal.”
I see that “Teal” is a piano-driven song.
Kitamura: At that time, I was more interested in making music than singing, and as I started to do DTM, I started to listen to cool sounding songs, which naturally led to more songs without singing, so I think that had an influence on me.
-The first single you released was “amaranthus (feat. Misaki Umei).
Kitamura: “amaranthus (feat. Misaki Umei)” was released on the vase label, which is a floral subculture, so I wrote the song based on the concept of flowers rather than showing my own color. As a singer-songwriter, I wanted to release a song with proper lyrics and melody first.
-How did you meet Umei-chan, who is featured in the song?
Kitamura: I first heard about Umei-chan on YouTube, and I thought, “There is such an amazing person of my generation.” I checked her Instagram, sent her a message, and contacted her when I was going to visit Tokyo, and we met for the first time in July 2021. At that time, we went to music bar rpm in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo.
-What kind of performance was it?
Kitamura: Umei-chan and Sara Wakui were playing a twin-key session, both of them are really cool on the piano and have a very wide range of expression, two people I really respect. I hadn’t seen Umei for about a year since then, but we met again at the recording session, and I remember I was very surprised and happy to hear about vase because it was like she connected us without knowing we knew each other.
-You have released 10 songs so far, including collaborations and remixes, which gives the impression of a very wide range of musicality.
Kitamura: I really just play what I want to play at the time. But one thing that is consistent is that I can’t really make it my own is piano, which is why I admire it and practice it with the intention of doing it all the time. Singing is my strongest skill, and I think it is fun to be able to express all the sounds when making tracks, so I do it with a sense of excitement.
-I am also very impressed with your voice-based expressions such as “IMIW” and “Sakura”.
Kitamura: I feel that my voice is the closest to me, and when I create melodies, I often start with humming. So I feel like I create songs more freely with my voice as the core, rather than consciously. I sing all the time at home, so I use that as an extension of my singing.
-The R&B-style polyphonic choruses seem to have been greatly influenced by Hiatus Kaiyote.
Kitamura: I enjoy listening to interesting chorus work. I have always loved the idea of playing a song I like and having it harmonize on its own, and Hiatus Kaiyote has a really cool chorus, so I think I was influenced by that.
