Trying something new!
Hello! This is going to be a bit of a different kind of post from what I regularly publish here on the blog. Actually, this is the first time I’ve ever really done anything like this, if I’m being completely honest.
To those who managed to catch the August issue of the J-Music Advance Party over on my Substack, I talked about the amazing opportunity I had getting to speak with drummer Utsunomiya Kai of Saiwai na Heya in the lead-up to the band’s most recent album release at the time of writing, Sumiyaka na Kisoku. I initially reached out to the band hoping for just a word or two, but what I got in return was more than I could have ever expected, and something that I will forever be grateful for.
One of the things that came out of our short exchange was the band very graciously taking the time to answer a couple of questions I had, both regarding the album and the band themselves. The idea at first was simply to use their responses as a reference for what I would eventually write for their Advance Party feature. However, upon receiving their answers, I couldn’t help but feel that it’d be a waste if I didn’t also share them with you guys. Not only for those of you who might already be fans and are curious to know more about the band, but also because I want to do my part in introducing Saiwai na Heya to as many people as I can who are willing to give their music a listen.
As such, I went ahead and asked Utsunomiya-san if I could publish their responses here on the blog, to which I was graciously given the green light. It’s not the lengthiest of interviews, which is part of why I struggle to even call it one (lol), but I hope you guys find what the band had to say interesting all the same.
So, with that little bit of context out of the way, please enjoy my conversation with Saiwai na Heya!
About Sumiyaka na Kisoku (すみやかな気息):
This is our first full-length album in a year and a half, following our first album, Sukoyaka na Shindai.
There are unorganized spaces within individual lives, seemingly disconnected actions, and countless nameless everyday activities—things that, if deliberately written down and singled out as something “special,” might actually lose something in the process. When all of these things gather together into a larger whole, they naturally create currents and atmospheres of their own, which in turn influence the individual. This album takes the “city” as this kind of cyclical system as its central concept, portraying the subtle uneasiness hidden within everyday life from a different angle with each song.We consciously tried to weave into the album a sense of the breathing of people and light embedded within the noise and constant motion at the very heart of the city.
It has become a fairly substantial body of work, so we hope you’ll take your time with it, sitting down with each individual song and discovering its particular character for yourself
Leap：Regarding the album, are there any specific themes or ideas that led to creating Sumiyaka na kisoku? Like, when I listened to Sukoyaka na Shindai (your first album), it personally gave me the feeling of returning to my hometown after being away for a long time. With this album, is there any particular emotion or scenery that you hope listeners will imagine?
Misa (Gt./Vo.)：In contrast to the suburban atmosphere of our previous album, this time we broadly centered the album around the theme of the “city.” The songs depict things like the actions and labor of individuals living there, as well as the ways those things interact with and influence one another.
I reflected my own personal interpretation of what a “city” is in the lyrics, looking at it through perspectives such as the people who constitute it and the ways information circulates within it. Rather than simply trying to evoke a symbolic or stereotypical image of a city, I placed more importance on the process of contemplating the systems and ways of living that exist there; the labor, the people, and the interactions between them. So rather than trying to decipher some particular meaning from the album, I’d be happy if each listener could simply experience it from their own individual perspective and come away feeling whatever they personally feel.
Leap：Musically, from the preview recently posted on X, I got the impression that the new album generally contains more up-tempo songs than the previous album. One of the things I particularly love about Saiwai na Heya is the beauty of the melodies, especially in the guitar and drums. Did you try anything new with the instrumentation or sound on Sumiyaka na Kisoku?
Misa (Gt./Vo.)：For this album, rather than prioritizing a sense of consistency across the record as a whole, we focused more on bringing out the individual personality of each song. On “Interline,” for example, I used a semi-hollow guitar and deliberately aimed for a somewhat clumped, dense kind of guitar sound. On “Ishi,” we went for a heavier distorted guitar tone than we’ve used before, as well as doubling the guitars to give the song a harder impression.
Kai Utsunomiya (Dr.)：As far as the drums go, with this band I generally try to keep the drum phrases as simple as possible and take an approach where they don’t assert themselves too much. However, in order to emphasize each song’s individual character and give the album more variety, I do think there are more intricate rhythm patterns compared with the previous record. I agree that there seem to be more fast-tempo songs than on the previous album, but at least at the time, I don’t think that was something we consciously set out to change. That said, when depicting the motif of the “city” on this album, I feel like that sense of speed ultimately ended up working to our advantage. In fact, personally, when we start creating new material from here, I’d like to approach songwriting with faster tempos and new kinds of structures that we haven’t used before as a starting point.
Masaya Fujimoto (Ba.)：Compared with the previous album, while making this record I wanted to make greater use of the potential of what the bass can do within a three-piece band. I think that may be one factor in making the dynamic shifts stand out more clearly and giving the album a different impression. In terms of sound, while basically maintaining the balance among the three of us, there are also little bits of experimentation hidden throughout the record. On “Yūdō,” for example, I introduced an octave effect that we hadn’t used before.
Leap：Could you tell me a little about the band? How did Saiwai na Heya form?
Kai Utsunomiya (Dr.)：About a year and a half ago, I had a solo project where Misa helped me by recording vocals and guitar. We made several songs together, and needless to say, her technical ability was excellent, but I also felt there was something extraordinary about her sense for phrasing. My approach with that solo project was to immediately turn whatever demos came to mind into finished songs and release them one after another, so it had a very “instant” quality to it; more about quantity than quality.
I started feeling that it would be a waste to simply consume Misa’s skill and musical sense within that kind of framework, so I asked whether she would be interested in starting something new together in the form of a proper band. By that point, I’d already joined and left quite a few bands, so I’d actually told myself, “I’m definitely not starting any more new bands.” But I decided to give myself one last shot and form this one.
Then came the question of who would play bass. Misa is an exceptionally skilled musician, and I’m personally the kind of person who puts a lot of importance on a player’s technical ability, so, if I may say so, I wanted someone where we wouldn’t have to compromise at all in terms of musicianship. The first person who came to mind was Masaya, who had been my senior in the university jazz club. Honestly, I couldn’t really picture him playing in this kind of band, so I asked him without expecting much, but he happily agreed.
You can already catch glimpses of his overwhelming ability as a bassist on the first album. That said, I still don’t think I’ve been able to create the kind of foundations in our songs that allow him to fully show what he’s capable of. Going forward, I’d like us to keep developing ideas that make better use of each member’s individual strengths, and eventually reach a point where the way we create music feels even more like the work of a band.
Leap：And what are your musical roots and influences? There are moments when Saiwai na Heya reminds me a little of American Football. Have they actually influenced you? And are there other bands or artists that have contributed to your current sound?
Misa (Gt./Vo.)：ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION and Spitz are constant influences for me. The Format is also my favorite band. I think they’ve influenced me not only in my work with this band but more broadly as well, particularly in how much importance I place on catchiness in melodies and riffs.
Kai Utsunomiya (Dr.)：I like artists associated with the Zankyō-kei scene, such as People In The Box and Chouchou merged syrups., and I use them as references when creating music. As far as what this band ultimately puts out, once my musical tastes intersect with the different tastes of the other two members, the result tends to drift around the periphery of different genres, something that you can’t quite call post-rock or alternative rock. And to a certain extent, I’d say that’s exactly what we’re aiming for.
At the same time, I personally love Midwest emo, and my roots are heavily influenced by American Football and TTNG, as well as emo scenes in Latin America, Russia, and Southeast Asia. The other two members don’t seem to have been particularly influenced by those genres themselves, but interestingly, I often hear similar nuances in what they bring to the band anyway. When I’m taking the lead on writing a song, I often try to make use of those qualities.
Masaya Fujimoto (Ba.)：As mentioned in the story of how the band formed, in recent years most of my musical activities have centered around jazz, so while creating music for this band, I haven’t really had any particular rock bands consciously in mind. That said, I feel like I’m probably unconsciously influenced by Rush, whom I used to listen to quite a lot. If I were to name artists from other genres, I drew inspiration for this album from musicians such as Paul Jackson, Rocco Palladino, and Thundercat.
Leap：(Lastly) How would you describe Saiwai na Heya’s music yourselves? Do you feel that it belongs more closely to a particular genre, or do you think of yourselves as taking a genre-less approach?
Misa (Gt./Vo.)：I consider our music to be something that isn’t confined to any particular genre. The fact that each member comes from a different musical background is itself one of our greatest strengths. When we write songs, we deliberately avoid trying to steer them toward a particular genre. Everyone adds their own arrangements according to their own interpretation, so sometimes one particular genre might emerge strongly, while at other times different styles blend together. I think the element of chance that emerges through that process is another one of our strengths.
Kai Utsunomiya (Dr.)：I feel the same. We don’t create music with the intention of fitting it into any particular genre. There may be a tendency for people to discuss us as an extension of the currently thriving alternative-rock scene, but we want to keep trying a broad range of approaches, drawing on a wide variety of interpretations. So in terms of our attitude or philosophy toward making music, I might describe us as a post-rock kind of band.
Masaya Fujimoto (Ba.)：I also think genre is ultimately a result; a label that gets applied afterward, rather than something we consciously think about while creating music. At the same time, I don’t think any of the interpretations listeners come away with are wrong. So I hope people will enjoy the freedom and room the music leaves for their own interpretations.
I hope to be able to do this again with other bands and artists moving forward. More than anything, I want what I say about the artists I feature here on the blog to be as reflective as possible of their own vision, rather than purely based on assumptions and speculation on my part. At the same time, I also think this could be another avenue for me to introduce these bands and artists to potential new fans, which has always been one of the main things I’ve wanted to accomplish with my writing in the first place.
Looking back at the way I asked some of my questions though, I do realize that I might have been a bit too leading in certain parts, which I hope the band didn’t feel a certain type of way about. Again, I don’t normally do this, so that’s definitely something for me to keep in mind and improve on should I get another opportunity like this in the future.
And speaking of which, if I do manage to line one of these up again, let me know if you’d be interested in seeing more conversations like this published here on the blog!
Lastly, if you haven’t yet, please check out Saiwai na Heya’s latest album Sumiyaka na Kisoku! And if you want to support the band, do consider picking up a physical copy. They offer international shipping through BASE and Bandcamp. If you choose the latter, keep in mind as well that during Bandcamp Friday, all proceeds from your purchase go directly to the band!
Happy Listening!