Interview] The ultimate form of hybrid of live and recorded music!　MYTH & ROID releases new single "shadowgraph

MYTH & ROID, whose songs with a unique worldview have graced numerous anime, have released their eighth single, "shadowgraph," which is a new type of song for them, without guitar tones. The song is currently on air as the opening theme for the TV anime "Boogiepop ha nogai nai yoana" (Boogiepop is Laughing). It also includes "Remembrance," the theme song for "Kinder Senki the Movie," as a coupling track. This is a powerful double-tie-up disc. We interviewed producer Tom-H@ck and vocalist KIHOW.

I aimed to make "shadowgraph" philosophical in both lyrics and sound.

─ ─ What kind of song did you decide to write for the opening theme of the TV anime "Boogiepop Won't Laugh"?

Tom-H@ck First of all, I read the original work, which has a surreal and unique atmosphere, and I wanted to express that elusive quality in the music. The lyrics written by Hotaru do not give any answers from beginning to end.

KIHOW "Boogie Pop Won't Laugh" is a work in which various events are intertwined and we don't know what really happened. The complex structure is fascinating in that as you follow the story, the pieces gradually fit together to reveal the whole picture, and I thought that "shadowgraph" has this in common. In terms of the music, it is quite different from "HYDRA" and "VORACITY" of the previous two albums, which were sung with a lot of emotion, and I thought it is a song that is sung with a restrained but not weakened expression of emotion. As a vocalist, I thought it would be a battle of endurance.

─ Were there any specific requests from the anime production side regarding the tone of the song?

Tom-H@ck: Almost none. I think they just asked for an opening song that would express the worldview of the original work they had read. Thankfully, nowadays, people trust MYTH & ROID more and more, and we rarely get specific requests. I also thought that a medium tempo song would be suitable for "shadowgraph" based on my impression of the original story, and this is the kind of song that I came up with.

─ ─ "shadowgraph" has a sound that is mainly based on hammering, doesn't it?

Tom-H@ck Except for the cello, everything else is all done by hammering. There have been songs with a similar feel in the past, such as "STYX HELIX," but they did not use any live instruments, so I think we were able to do something new this time: create a modern song with a hybrid feel of live instruments and live recording.

─ ─ Why did you choose the cello as the live instrument?

Tom-H@ck As I have said in various occasions in the past, my theory is that music goes through a 7-year cycle: music from 7 years ago sounds the oldest, and music from 14 years ago, which is twice as old, feels newer. At that time, Japanese R&B was at its peak, and the technique of using a string section to repeat the same phrase over and over again to create a catchy sound was popular. So I thought of adding strings, but it would be uninteresting to do it as is, so I decided to use only the cello, and to make it a solo, which would create a new sound while giving off the atmosphere of the old days.

Tom-H@ck: The cello sound is in all of the songs.

Tom-H@ck It's like there are no breaks. I wanted to create a sense of presence to attract the listener's ear.

Tom-H@ck - I was also impressed by the Japanese string-like sound.

Tom-H@ck I think you are probably referring to the synth sound in the intro, and I was actually thinking of the atmosphere of the music in Ghibli's "My Neighbor Totoro". This is roughly 28 years ago, which is 14 years times older, and it's super vintage, which everyone loves. 80's to 90's dance music elements were introduced by Gen Hoshino a couple of years ago and became a big hit, but it's also almost the same sound feel of the same era.

─ I see, so the 7-year cycle theory applies here as well.

Tom-H@ck I didn't make it on the computer, but by actually playing it on a Yamaha FM synthesizer that came out at the time. I thought it would be interesting to revive it now.