Tried to translate the interview with Cosmos in the Arcadia March 2007 issue. There might be some long sentences and weird words. There are also some parts I'm not sure of. Also, I don't know if it's been translated already, but anyway, here goes. Hope you like it.
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Page 1: A mini album where we will see a new side of Cosmos
---------------------------------------------------------------- First of all, Mr. Murai, please explain how it all started with this album. Murai: When we first produced a song with Cosmos for Pop'n Music, we thought that it would be a one time only, but the response from the users was good so we followed up with a 2nd and 3rd song. At that time, we had been working for almost 2 years, and we thought it was a waste that there were so few songs even though alot of people wanted to listen to Cosmos' songs. That's why we started making the mini album. But we had already started talking about that since long ago, around the time when we made the second song.
- So you had already talked about it since long ago?Murai: After that, when we decided to make a third song, we said "let's make more songs and release an album".
- And for the mini album "cosmos" that have been released, how did you go about with the recordings of songs that are in Pop'n Music?Saya: We re-recorded most of it.
Emi: The arrange and stuff is changed too.
Murai: Yeah, the arrenge is partially changed. We started with recording the new songs, and by then, their ability to express themselves had been improved to such a grade that we thought that they could sing better than before, adding in more feelings. So we suddenly changed the schedule and asked them to re-record 'home' and 'kibou no tane' (lit. 'seed of hope') which we had already recorded by then. That's when we changed the arrange and tones, supplemented with guitar and added a live band with drum and bass.
Emi: In its entirety it became "gorgeus" (laugh)
- There are 4 new songs. First, let's hear about the first one, 'Prelude cosmos'.Murai: Actually the first one is 'home', but since there's no intro in this song, and they all of a sudden start to sing, we made an intro with the image of Cosmos. On the CD the tracks are divided by 1 and 2, but the sound is completely linked together.
- The fifth song, 'hashiri tsuzukete' (lit. 'continuing to run'), has a high tempo which we would not imagine from Cosmos.Saya: It's very different, yes.
Murai: With the meaning of the word "healing" being to cheer up and consolate tired and confused people, support people in their work, studies and sports, and cheer for people confronting challenges, we made a song with a little reassuring feeling to it. If the other songs are like wrapped up (?), then this is a pat on the back with a feeling of "we're cheering for you".
- This song is very different from your previous songs. How did you feel when you first listened to it?Saya: Honestly, I thought "wah, it's new!" (laugh). At first, since it was different from Cosmos' image, I wondered what kind of feeling I should keep when singing it, but after I heard Mr. Murai's concept I could assent to it. When we completed it, I thought "so we can make songs like this too, huh" (laugh).
Emi: I thought that we could show a new side of Csomos. Even when we practiced singing it we had alot of fun, so it was a pleasure when we finished it.
Saya: But it was really hard (laugh). It was a very rather challenging song.
- And then you finished with 'sunset and sunrise' and 'kono michi' (lit. 'this road'), which has the exact feeling of Cosmos. Saya: For 'sunset and sunrise', we wrote the lyrics with the theme of graduation, parting and new departures. Without using fancy words we straightly put in the feeling of "thank you" to the lyrics.
Murai: 'Kono michi' is a cover; the lyrics are written by Hakushuu Kitahara (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakush%C5%AB_Kitahara) and the song is a children's song by Kosaku Yamada (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosaku_Yamada). The original plan was that this was the concept for 'home', but the image that that turned up when we made 'home' became 'kono michi'. So we can say that this was the real starting point, and we decided to to finally bundle in this song when we made the album.
Emi: For this song, it has a feeling that we didn't record one by one, but instead sang together with Mr. Murai on the piano. Lika a chorus (laugh).
Saya: Chorus, you say (laugh). But until then, I didn't have any experience with that kind of recording, so it was great that I finally got to experience it.
- There's not much recording of that type around now.Murai: Since this song doesn't have a fixed rhythm, and there're parts where their timings might be difficult, we made this song while the two were facing each other and the piano through the studio glass.
Saya: We sang with eye contact.
Emi: It was a good feeling.
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Page 2: The bonds of the sisters play in ultimate harmony
---------------------------------------------------------------- By the way, since when did you start singing together?Saya: Was it since the BeForU live in February 2006?
Emi: Ah, right. Since that live (laugh).
- That really opened up a chance.Saya: It was like that, yes.
Emi: Because, we thought that we could never sing together in a strict recording, so I called Saya and said "let's try sing together" (laugh).
Saya: Yes, and then we sang together across the phone, but couldn't sync.
Emi: Absolutely not (laugh).
Saya: I didn't know that phones were that slow. That was the first time I got to know about it (laugh).
Emi: We both said from each others phone "yours is slow".
Saya: We accused each other with that and said "hey, sing accurate". No matter how many times we tried it was no good so we decided that "phones are no good, huh" (laugh).
Emi: Finally, we decided to try it when we met.
Saya: At that live performance day (laugh).
- Still, you were matching each other perfectly at the live performance, which was said to be due to the bonds between sisters (laugh). Murai: Surely we didn't have any problems at the performance. They are always apart from each other, but when we're calling them they're matching each other perfectly, so I didn't have to worry about anything (laugh).
Saya: But well, Mr. Murai produced everything concerning the music for us, so preparing for that wasn't that hard.
Emi: Thanks to that we can sing "smooth".
- What song do you have deep memories of?Saya: I have fond memories of all the songs, but probably 'home', the first song. It was the start for us, it was the first time singing as a duo in harmony in the front, it's a song that Mr. Murai came up with thinking of Cosmos' "beauty", and we also wrote the lyrics ourselves, so I have alot of feelings for it.
Emi: I like healing like songs like 'home', so of course I also have feelings for it, but for me, it's 'fragments'. It has a little different feeling than what Cosmos is. I also like 'hashiri tsuzukete'. We practiced alot for this song so I have deep memories of it (laugh).
- There is a DVD coming together with this mini album.Saya: Yes. The video recorded on the DVD is from last year's February live at Zepp Tokyo with BeForU, where Cosmos performed 'home' and 'kibou no tane'.
- Finally, can you please say something to out readers about your hopes and ambitions for this year.Saya: As Cosmos' mini album has just been released into the year 2007, I think it's a very good start. We have packed everything we can do into this album. It would be good if we could develop this year with live concerts and events, and not only the CD.
Emi: As we released this album, I think we moved one step closer to a live performance we have been imagining since long. We're very happy that we have released an album, and this is a chance to reach out to different people. I want to sing alot of beautiful songs this year too.
Murai: The music and composition in this album have been produced like one whole thing, so we want people listen to the CD as it is, and not put it into a portable music player and shuffle the tracks. It would be nice if we could do something new when the flowers bloom again this year. (He is acutally referring to "Cosmos bipinnatus" instead of "flower". More Info at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos_bipinnatus)
