Like I said before, they originally talked about the album as if it would have a lot of new songs, so I’ll share some quotes.
— These days, there are quite a few albums that are basically just a collection of previously released singles. And honestly, even if “Kataki” had been called your first album, I don’t think anyone would have complained.
But there’s still this feeling that “that’s not really what an album should be,” right?
Yue: I think that feeling definitely exists. Maybe everyone in the band sees it differently, but for me, when my favorite artist releases an album and it’s mostly older songs, remasters that don’t sound that different, and things I’ve already heard, it’s not that exciting.
An album makes me want to listen when it has a lot of new, unheard songs. So even if we released “Kataki” as an album and people were fine with it, if I were just a listener, I would still think, “I’d rather hear something with new songs.”
For me, an album means something new, something unknown.
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Lime: I’ve always focused on each song one by one. I just can’t switch between things like, “If this doesn’t work, I’ll move on to something else.” My brain is wired to focus completely on the one song in front of me.
That’s how I’ve been working, so I already told the management that making a full album would probably be pretty much impossible.
— I feel like your ideal of what an album should be has only gotten higher. These days, it’s normal to keep releasing new songs digitally and then just put them together as an album once there are enough tracks. So maybe the fact that you didn’t do that is also why the bar feels so high.
Lime: Yeah, I’m definitely making things harder for myself. At first, I didn’t really have expectations for myself. But with each release, people’s expectations kept growing, and even I started expecting more from myself. I think that’s what raised my standards for the album.
That said, I still don’t know how many songs will end up on the album, but I’m going to do my best to include as many as I can.
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— At this point, what kind of album do you feel like it’s going to be?
Reiki: I listen to a lot of music in general, but this feels like something I’ve never heard before. It’s like there’s no real reference point. It’s not even close to my own roots, so I’m actually excited about it. I think it might turn out pretty crazy (結構ヤバいことになるんじゃないかな).
— In a world where we’re surrounded by so much information, it’s rare to come across a type of music you’ve never heard before. So does that mean it really feels that new?
Reiki: Yeah, I think it’s just very “Lime-like.” The songs he writes are really unique. When I listen to them, I don’t associate them with any other music or songs. And because of that, it can actually be difficult to work with them.
