Japanese singer-songwriter Yuta Orisaka looks deeply into himself on his new album “Jyumon”, where folk meets rock and soul.
Thom Yorke once said, “I want to sing like Marvin Gaye”. On his fourth album “Jyumon” (呪文), meaning “Spell”, Yuta Orisaka (折坂悠太) plays songs with arrangements reminiscent of Radiohead and he sings like American soul musicians.
With the album’s final track, “Hachisu” (“Lotus”), Yuta may have paid homage to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” in the form of traditional Japanese folk music. Midway through the song, he sings: “If I could have my wish, it would be that every child is safe.”
The two songs that we hear before “Hachisu” – “Shouki” (“Sanity”) and “Mugon” (“Silence”) – are arranged in a quiet post rock style.
In the lyrics, we cannot help but associate them with the current, unconvincing, social issues. Various excuses by which unreasonable acts are justified: “You may not understand it, but it’s just the way it is.” On “Shouki” (“Sanity”), Yuta declares: “I’m not talking about that. I am serious. I’m not going to war.” In “Mugon” (“Silence”) he sings: “I’m writing a letter for when bad things happen again.”
This time, Yuta says that he relied more on his intuition. In previous works, his statements were the basis of work. On “Jyumon” however, he tried to incorporate accidental results of his unconsciousness directly into the songs. He also says that he recorded with an emphasis on physical sensation.
“It’s an equal mix of different things I’ve felt in my life, with no context involved. I look deeply into myself, and many words that come out – as if I had dug through my toy box – are put directly into the song, in their original form,” Yuta Orisaka said in an interview with Natalie.
The process of making his new effort “Jyumon”, is his attempt of self-therapy, similar to, for example, EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing). Finally, it could be his spell also to heal his country, full of traumatic experiences.
Stream “Jyumon” LP on Spotify.
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