On a Japanese beach, there was a music festival recently where many young people oddly didn’t listen to music, but just made noise. What they seemed to need was only a danceable rhythm, no sweet harmony or melodies to make their spirits higher.
Three-piece female outfit SHISHAMO’s composer, guitarist and vocalist, 20 years old Asako Miyazaki throw a question at such people in “MUSICA” interview. “Sometimes I think that they don’t care what song a band is playing, they might get excited even if it isn’t music.”
SHISHAMO themselves first started their career playing songs of Chatmonchy, Sōtaisei Riron, or Tokyo Jihen (Shiina Ringo) in high school club. But over the time, they’ve been getting more and more popular by their original songs in a J-Pop style that makes everyone dance.
But in “Nettaiya”, they did it different way. They break familiar rhythm with intervals, to imagine a person’s life. Eventually, it appears a truly soulful love song not so far from the mellow Motown R&B. It is not for a mess, but for understanding each other well. Asako sings: “Aitai imasugu”, “Wanna see you right now”. And they surely play “Nettaiya” (熱帯夜), or “Tropical Night”, in an intimate way, even if nobody listens to them.
SHISHAMO (a species of fish) swims freely in the Japanese music scene, in their very own way, meeting people who need music and love in order to live in such a cruel world.
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