INDEX
There is no concept intended as an EP.
The EP “Doughy” features a striking cover art. What was the concept or image behind the jacket design?
Aoi: There isn’t a particularly strong meaning behind it, but for me, it represents a part of the skin opening up, revealing something that isn’t actually inside the body. It’s abstract, but it was designed to evoke the idea of “going outward.”
The five tracks on the EP each stand alone as distinct pieces, but listening from the first to the fifth track, there seems to be a narrative that gradually converges into something more personal. Was there any thought put into selecting and arranging the tracks?
Aoi: We didn’t plan in advance what kind of work we wanted to create. However, looking back, I think the lack of a specific reference became a defining feature. Nowadays, many music and music videos are made with numerous references, but for “Doughy,” we didn’t use any references at all. We approached it with the idea of packaging what naturally came out of us, and I think that resulted in something uniquely Summer Whales.
How about for you, Kubo?
Kubo： As Aoi mentioned, it feels like we just played and recorded whatever came out of us. Although I’ve listened to a lot of music, so some influences might come through unintentionally, we didn’t consider how we wanted this EP to turn out. Each track was simply played and recorded as it came to us. That’s the approach we took.
For example, the lyrics of the first track “Are People Flowers” use the pronoun , while the lyrics of the fifth track “Chasing Your Shadow” use . How do you decide on the choice of pronoun in your lyrics?
Aoi: The choice between first-person singular and plural is intentional. It depends on whether the scene depicted in the lyrics is about what “I” want to do or what is happening “with others.” If I feel that it’s not just about one person, I write it simply as . “Are People Flowers” has more of a prose-poetry feel rather than clear lyrics, and I don’t fully understand its meaning myself. It gives me a sense of having found something, and that feeling seemed more like something discovered “together with others” rather than just by myself.
The lyrics of the second track “Stroller” seem to be addressing a specific “you.” What kind of scene is depicted in these lyrics?
Aoi: I think the lyrics blend personal feelings with what we want to convey to the listeners as a band.
