Interview] SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]'s 4th album "iv" is completed! Once again, a wide variety of vocalists participated in the album's contents.

Composer Hiroyuki Sawano's vocal project, SawanoHiroyuki [nZk], released its fourth album "iv" on March 3, 2021. The album features a wide variety of vocalists, including Tetsu Okazaki, Yuuri, ReoNa, and Aina the End of BiSH, a "punk band with no instruments. They collaborated with the sound created by Hiroyuki Sawano.
The Blu-ray of the first edition includes the live performance "Hiroyuki Sawano LIVE "BEST OF VOCAL WORKS [nZk]" Side SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]" that was held on August 7, 2011, without audience participation. The album was again full of attention to detail, including a jacket design that is linked to his previous work "R∃/MEMBER!

2020 was the year I realized my new potential!

─ ─ In the midst of the Corona disaster, you were energetically active in 2020, weren't you, Mr. Sawano?

Sawano: That's right. I thought it would be good if I could actively send out information myself, so I did a lot of activities.

─ ─ I thought that the results of these activities appeared in the 4th album "iv. Bonus tracks include "Home REC-nZk," which combines sound and video taken at the performers' homes, and three songs from the studio live performance "[-30k]re:tuneS," while the Blu-ray on the first disc includes a live performance without an audience held in August. What kind of year was 2020 for you?

Sawano: Last year was the 15th anniversary since I started my career as a play-by-play artist, so I released my best album "BEST OF VOCAL WORKS [nZk] 2" and planned to hold a live concert. That was the part that got stuck in the situation of the Corona Disaster, and I went looking for something I could do instead. To begin with, my job as a playwright is to stay at home and write songs, so it didn't really interfere with my own work, but the musicians who always help me lost their field work, and I wondered if I could do something with them, so I decided to rearrange and perform past songs in the form of home recording. I decided to do something with them, and we decided to play past songs rearranged in the form of home recordings. That's how "home-recording-nZk" started, and I felt that I was able to do something very enjoyable. It was in 2020 that I realized that we could be more actively involved in the work, and not just end up making and recording accompaniment.


───There were many restrictions, but even within those restrictions, there were many things you could do.

Sawano: I think it is important to take a negative environment and turn it into something positive for yourself. There is no point in focusing only on the bad, and I think this was the year when I became aware of new possibilities.

─ What was the "Hiroyuki Sawano LIVE "BEST OF VOCAL WORKS [nZk]", the live performance without an audience included in the Blu-ray, like for you?

Sawano: We had planned to hold a live concert in the spring to celebrate our 15th anniversary with the audience in front of us, but we decided to move the date to the summer and hold it without an audience. It was disappointing to have no audience, but it was fun to perform in the same space as the musicians. I also enjoyed "Home REC-nZk," but I think it is important to do music together with everyone. If you have the first pressing of the album, I hope you will enjoy the video.


─ ─ Now, moving on to the main part of the album, this is your first original album in two years, since your 3rd album "R∃/MEMBER" released in March 2019. The album is comprised of singles since "R∃/MEMBER" and new songs from the album, with 11 vocal tracks sandwiched between a prologue and two epilogue-like instrumental tracks. The new songs on the album featured many first-time meetings with fascinating artists.

Sawano: There are people I have wanted to work with for a long time, and others who were recommended to me by the staff. For example, Yuri-san, I heard from a staff member that there was a wonderful male vocalist, and after listening to his music, I asked him to join us.

I thought they were all fresh and challenging new possibilities.

Sawano: When I see Okazaki-san on TV, he is an interesting talker, and he also adds interesting elements to his music, but I was attracted to the way he constructs his songs and his approach as a vocalist, and I thought a great chemical reaction would occur if we worked together. A few years ago, when I was working on "R∃/MEMBER," Aina the End participated in a tribute album to Mr. Hide called "hide TRIBUTE IMPULSE" that was released. I liked her husky voice, which I had not felt from Japanese female artists until now, and I wondered if I could work with her somewhere.

─ You have been interested in Aina the End for more than two years, haven't you?

Sawano: That's right. Last year, when I participated in "Mobile Suit Gundam 40th Anniversary Album ~BEYOND~," a 40th anniversary album of "Gundam" supervised by SUGIZO, I met Aina the End, who was also participating in the album, through SUGIZO's YouTube channel. I met Aina the End on SUGIZO's YouTube channel, and we had a chance to meet, which led us to this album.