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BAND: 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera)
MAGAZINE: Cure Vol.68
DATE: March 21, 2009
Interview: 植田裕子 (Ueda Yuuko), Translation: karmik (http://translations.hanabie.com/)
Towards a place where you can set yourself free with the perfection of "anomie"
Matenrou Opera, who will have their long-awaited oneman in July, are taking the "Anomie Plan" to perfection little by little. The maxi-single "acedia", which can also be called a part of the plan, exceeds the theme of "symphaty" and becomes "rescue". Doing activities at a high pace, they're powerfully moving towards completing the "Anomie Plan" in July. We asked about their feelings in the middle of this vortex.
Your upcoming maxi-single will become your fifth, and it seems like you also had a lot of lives last year. It's been only less than two years since Matenrou Opera was formed, so I think having energy to accomplish this much is admirable.
Sono: Yeah, now's the right time for it, so I think we've got to do it now.
Anzi: But we weren't that busy last year, were we?
Ayame: Think about how busy we've been this year (laugh)
Yuu: Last year was busy when we thought about it last year, but right now it feels like we've already gone through half a year this year. (laugh)
Is that because you've been working with the maxi-single?
Sono: That, and the "Anomie Plan" we're carrying out now. The plan has been in action ever since it was announced in Cure on January 21, and considering that the plan ends on July 23th at our oneman, all our activities until then will be according to the Anomie Plan.
Does that mean that the upcoming single is also a part of the Anomie Plan?
Sono: Yes, but only the first song "Hiai to melancholy" is about the same contents as the meaning behind Anomie Plan.
"Anomie" is a word you don't really hear often, so what kind of a plan is it?
Sono: Anomie is a state when rules have eroded and there is no control, and for us, it's ignoring all the rules in this world and creating a Matenrou Opera-like anomie. The idea is to realise this at the oneman on July 23.
So it means that the people who come to the live can set themselves free without bounds?
Sono: Yes.
What made you come up with such an idea?
Sono: I'm the one who always writes the lyrics, and in the beginning I often wrote "lyrics you can relate to", I think. I wrote about how the listeners live an unskillful or sad life, but now it's changed to "rescuing lyrics".
Is that a change in how you consider the listeners?
Sono: Yes. I can relate to that kind of people a lot, so I feel I can understand that they too think that having some kind of an answer would help. That way, I want to help with Matenrou Opera's music, or... I've started to think it would be great if we could become a guide for them. It's like, "for now, forget the rules and enter Matenrou Opera's world". Such feelings turned into this plan naturally, and that's what we'll do this year.
All the three songs on "acedia" have a very different feeling to them. Who was in charge of composing?
Sono: For the first time, all the three songs were composed by different people. "Hiai to melancholy" was composed by me, "Faust" by Anzi, and "Lawn Daisy" by Ayame.
Currently, it feels like "Matenrou Opera's colour" has been established even further in the band's sound. How did you put together the single this time?
Sono: I think that Matenrou Opera's sound has certainly been established, but we didn't want to stop it at that. That's why every time we've put out a single, we've tried something new, and this time too we balanced our sound, tried adding loop to the keyboard's sound, and created songs conscious of things we hadn't tried so far.
It seems like the meaning of the word "acedia" is close to the meaning of one of the seven deadly sins, "sloth". Why did you give it this name?
Sono: This is also related to anomie... The first song "Hiai to melancholy" is about the sadness and melancholy of losing love. In the song, indolence joins depression, and becomes one of the seven deadly sins, "sloth".
So it's like having a great shock and losing your will to move forwards, and thus falling into indolence.
Sono: I think everyone has had that kind of experiences. That's why we would like to be able to help people who suffer from indolence caused by depression with our anomie.
Thinking it that way, the part of the lyrics "I'd rather just live neglected" is very strong.
Sono: That part is exactly what we've been talking about now put into words, so I'm glad if the message gets through.
As for "Faust", the lyrics are magical. Also, the sound is heavy, and there's the kind of solemnity as there is in religious music.
Sono: Yes. When Anzi-kun brought us the framework of the song, I thought "this song is about black magic". (laugh) That's why I wrote the lyrics about making a deal with the devil in exchange for magic, like Goethe's "Faust".
Anzi: Even if I say so myself, I think this is not a song that rescues anyone, but just a dark song. (laugh) That's why when I heard that the lyrics are going to be about black magic, I thought that's exactly fitting. It's a very charasteristic song for me. Because I'm a black magic character, whereas You-san is a white magic character.
You: Is that so? (laugh) But really, this is a very Anzi-like song, isn't it?
Are this kind of songs Anzi-san's strong point?
Anzi: I like dark songs. I like listening to dark songs in a dark place, with light of about one candle. (laugh)
I see. (laugh) In this song, the keyboards also have a lot of effect, don't they?
Ayame: That's right. The moment I heard the song I came up with a lot of things I could play in it, and when I thought that this could have a black magic feeling, the lyrics turned out exactly like that too. I think this song is a song we could all create with the same feeling.
And the last song "Lawn Daisy" seems like a stream surfacing straight into the light all of a sudden. Are this kind of light songs your strong point, Ayame-san?
Ayame: I like both light and dark songs, so yes, it is. This time we really branched out with our strong points, so I had fun playing the keyboards.
There was also a part where the keyboards and guitars played in unison.
Ayame: Yes, that was in the outro. First we thought about putting a guitar solo there, but then we got the idea of making it a chase with the keyboard and guitar, so it turned out like this.
Anzi: When the composition was ready, I tried many kinds of things ad lib when we were polishing it at rehearsals, and thought "wouldn't it be cool if we made it a chase?".
Looking at this kind of a range of songs, do you think that you are capable of doing many kinds of things exactly because you are "Matenrou Opera"?
Yuu: Yes, I think it's like that. After all, I think it would be boring to stop there. On "Ruriiro de egaku niji", which we did very quickly after the member change, our priority was to strengthen our band's sound, and we didn't think about stretching our hands towards many people. On the contrary, now we think we can do that. It's not exactly conscious, but our range just naturally widens... Though I think that is, of course, also the aim of our composers.
Ayame: Also, I think we can do many things naturally because each of us likes many different things.
Anzi: Even though we of course have things in common too, all of us have strong personalities and we're all different.
You have a sponsorship event in May, but what are your plans currently?
Sono: Although there's no details yet, the title of the oneman will be "DAWN OF ANOMIE", and relating to that, the upcoming three sponsorship events will be called "SEEDS OF ANOMIE".
So at these three places the seeds will be sown, and at the oneman the sunrise will come.
Sono: Yes. We want the seeds inside everyone to change into a sense of anomie.
Ayame: In addition to that, our two-year anniversary is another theme at the three events.
Anzi: Hardly, right?
Everyone: (laugh)
Sono: That's true though, it won't be at all like "It's our second anniversary~!", since it's only been one year with these members.
You: But somehow it feels like we've been together for 3 or 4 years already. (laugh)
Yuu: Because this year, there's been clearly fewer days when we haven't seen each other than when we have.
Anzi: Recently I spent 9 days together with You-san. It's like, every time we part we say "today was the last day", but every time only around a day passes until we see each other again. (laugh)
I wonder where you get the energy to maintain such a density of activities.
Yuu: Right now, we're already completing our plans for July, so we're doing our best thinking "let's do it!".
Anzi: Because we're already getting to know where we're going to play, right. Our plans are becoming more specific, so we feel like our butts are being beaten every day even now. Like "Hurry up, hurry up!" (laugh) After all, you don't feel like that if your plans are vague, do you? If you clearly decide that "I need to do this before that!", after that you can only do your best. So energetically that if you fail to do it you'll die. (laugh)
You: In the beginning we really wanted people to know us, but now I think the number of people who do know us is increasing little by little. That's why we want to show a great scenery for those people ultimately at the oneman in July.
Well then, can we expect to see a new world created by the Anomie Plan on that day?
Sono: That is something we all have on our minds, but it might not be a change that is obvious at the first glance. However, we want Matenrou Opera to become a little more essential in the Operers' -- that's what we call our fans -- lives, and I believe the number of Operers will increase in proportion to that.
