Interview translation - Kyo on Mortal Downer
I got these scans from the awesome @additionalsorrow's blog - credit and eternal thanks to them!
In Japanese, âMortal Downerâ would translate to something like âultimate despondencyâ. Where did you get this phrase from?
Kyo: Itâs about the heaviness of the album as a whole. That heaviness is at the centre of everything. Even during live shows, I feel that the essence of Dir en Grey is a kind of heavy, murky atmosphere. As we put the songs together, I felt as if the air in the room was becoming more and more oppressive. I believe this is when this phrase first came up. That being said, Iâd like to leave it somewhat up for interpretation. Rather than it having a precise meaning, Iâd prefer people to just take in the atmosphere these words give off and judge for themselves.
I see. This album has a more minimalist feel than your previous releases. And even with your vocals, Kyo, it feels like youâre not trying to pack in as many lines here and there as you used to.
Kyo: Yes, Iâve been cutting down on my own singing quite a bit. Itâs okay if I write a lot, but lately Iâve been committed to reducing my actual vocal parts. But this is something that changes for me every other year. Right now singing less makes sense to me, but maybe in the future Iâll feel like packing in a lot of vocals again. The thing is, when youâre going for that heavy, murky vibe, itâs better not to overload the songs with vocals. If thereâs too much singing, the groove ends up feeling a bit rushed, stretched thin. Itâs not that I wanted to do only ballads, though. Even in the heavier tracks, I thought that we could make them even more minimalistic.
Itâs an album with a balance that we hadnât seen before. About the lyrics - youâve said it many times, Kyo, that you donât want them to have a set theme, and that you donât want to be bound by one yourself.
Kyo: Thatâs right. But naturally, whatever version of myself exists at the time Iâm writing the lyrics will come to the surface. So yes, there are certainly some common threads. What I was actually feeling when I was writing this albumâs lyrics was âwhy did I have to be born in times like this?â
Itâs a feeling that has always been somewhere inside of me. I think I would have felt the same no matter what era I was born into. So I donât think itâs a reflection of my current state of mind. Itâs more like something more structural, something that has been rooted in me, a part of my personality.
Dir en Grey has been active for roughly 30 years now. These days, there seems to be a particularly strong sense of instability in the world. Do you think this had any influence on this albumâs lyrics?
Kyo: Yes, I think it has. When you watch the news, youâre exposed to all these things that you see and hear. Some of these things youâd think were just urban legends or conspiracy theories. And it turns out, some of them are surprisingly and uncomfortably real. And with the advent of AI on top of that, people have become even more easily deceived. Itâs gotten harder to tell whether something is real or fake news. So, in the end youâd better think and make an opinion for yourself. This applies to any time in history, not just today. Itâs just that today, I find that the sheer amount of information has increased so much that everything became so much more complicated. Thatâs why itâs so important that, at individual level, people decide what they think is right, and what opinions they stand up for. I think this is something that comes about in this album, to some degree.
Do you think music has the power to change that?
Kyo: No, I don't think so at all. Actually, I never thought about whether music has that power or not. But I donât know how many people out there think the way I do. People that find life hard. People that are as sensitive as I am. If something in my music resonates with them, Iâm happy. When you realise that youâre not the only one who feels this way, that can bring you some comfort. It can help you escape a sense of isolation, even if only a little bit. Iâd be happy if my words did that sort of thing.
Since you mention that sense of isolation, I find that thereâs something about the lyrics that contrasts the breadth and narrowness of freedom.
Kyo: I think the gist of it is; the world is broad, but the worlds we actually live in are narrow. Weâre tied down by all sorts of things, we worry about all sorts of things. We live in a world that is free, yet we arenât free. Thatâs not necessarily the theme of the lyrics, but I believe that feeling is pervasive throughout the album.
Dir en Grey will celebrate itâs 30th anniversary in 2027. With such a long history, do you ever wonder how many more albums you will make?
Kyo: Iâve been thinking about that for quite some time, actually. Iâm someone who tends to think about life in reverse, I think things through backwards. Every time we make something, I think about what my physical condition will be like, what the different circumstances will be like, what the tour will roughly be like, how much recorded material weâll have. Iâm the type whoâs always thinking about things that way.
Do you ever make a sort of bucket list in your head?
Kyo: No, I donât do that. Because for the most part, Iâve already done pretty much everything I wanted to do. Iâm in three bands, I make toys, I try to design clothes, I run a café⊠I do all sorts of things, and at this point thereâs nothing left for me to try. Rather, what worries me is how long I can maintain all of this, how I can raise the quality of each of these things. And then I worry about how I present myself live, how I perform. Going forward, as my stamina starts to decline, I wonder if Iâll continue performing the way I do or if Iâll stop. How I think about that one point could change a lot of things.
Itâs interesting that youâre in three bands, Kyo, but youâve never tried your hand at a solo career. Is that an option youâd explore?
Kyo: [No,] because I canât write songs. In a solo project, of course you can ask someone else to write songs for you, but that feels a little strange to me. What I love is the strain thatâs created by doing things as a band. If I did it all myself, Iâd quickly exceed the limits of my own imagination. Of course, with a band things donât always go the way I want. Sometimes I think what we're doing is not quite it. But thereâs also a lot that exceeds my imagination, and thatâs what I find enjoyable. If a solo project just meant doing things by myself, there are plenty of things I could do on my own besides singing. So my reasoning is; if Iâm going to do something solo, Iâd rather go into other areas.
Understood. One last thing: if you have to give Mortal Downer a Japanese title, what words would you choose, Kyo?
Kyo: I suppose it would be âå ±åŸ©ïŒæªæ)â [Retaliation (Spite)]. I imagine interpretations will differ from person to person, and some people will simply take it as an ironic phrase. But I think both the title and the album itself, the themes behind it, are something people who have a similar mindset to the five of us will be happy with.
vaporwave
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
pixelskylines
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
blakekathryn
gamechangershow
ellievsbear
