capsule Sugarless GiRL interview for traksy

reporter: Fujimoto Kouichi
publisher: traksy (Yamaha-owned electronic music outlet, defunct)
published: February 19, 2007

With their involvement in the worlds of fashion and design as well as music, pop unit capsule continues to make new proposals to the scene. Their new album Sugarless GiRL received a CD and digital release on February 21st. In the nine months since they showcased their daring shift towards a more club-oriented sound on their previous work FRUITS CLiPPER, their new album has taken on an even harder edge and become all the more fascinating. We sat down with Nakata Yasutaka, who takes charge of all the production and songwriting in capsule, for the details.

Your new album Sugarless GiRL seems to have taken the club sound that became more prominent on your last album and pushed that even further. Does this feel like a natural extension of your previous album, or did you approach it with some new concept in mind?
I didn’t think about it from the perspective of reveling in those changes as much as I did on FRUITS CLiPPER. I’d been making electro-ish tracks on an experimental basis since before FRUITS CLiPPER as well, and I sometimes played those songs in a mix of foreign stuff when I DJed at clubs. I was a little apprehensive of how well listeners would respond to them, but as I played those songs, I felt a kind of energy taking everyone to the next level in that moment [from the reaction on the floor], and FRUITS CLiPPER was the product of me deciding to ride that momentum all in one go. Still, I think even this style of music is becoming more accepted lately, so Sugarless GiRL feels like an album I created naturally.

Speaking of taking note of listeners’ reactions in the club, does it carry a lot of weight in your current songwriting process for a track to get a positive response on the floor or be enjoyable to listen to in that environment?
It’s not intended to be that floor-oriented, but rather than something just striking home as a “good song”... When I approach it almost like an attack, like I’m firing a machine gun from the DJ booth, that’s when everyone seems to enjoy it more.

I think what you said about firing a machine gun goes hand-in-hand with this, too, but it struck me that you didn’t seem to be playing it safe with this sound.
All I’m doing is figuring out how to make people like what I want to create. It’s boring to make music marketed towards what listeners want to hear, and the world is full of that kind of music anyway. I feel like it’s more fun to do what interests you and get other people to find that cool as a result. Music created based on some idea of what people must like feels too commercial. I want to believe that isn’t the music that actually pleases listeners. Well, this is an idealistic argument, though (laughs).

In addition to elements of house, electro and disco punk, I also noticed quite a lot of ‘80s influence on this album. Did you have some particular aim in using these sounds?
I think there are waves in the music scene, and if one generation experienced a wave where music was valued for being complex and polished in terms of things like chord progressions and technical skill, now people are embracing music that’s a little more solid, and sounds that are “uncomplicated but not easily made” have become more interesting. Instead of this and that about the musical structure, it’s about the coolness of the sound when it makes a noise — basically, emphasizing the coolness of the mood inherent to that sound itself — and I think people who make electronic music in Japan are opposed to that by nature. Like they listen to music using their intellect. From that perspective, it seemed difficult to bring out the good parts of that ‘80s edge with the feeling and vibe of right now, and that made it interesting to me. So it’s like I dared to take on that kind of sound.

The apparent lack of that “euphoria” so commonly heard in ‘80s music actually makes it feel more modern as well.
It’s not that I’m especially fond of ‘80s music itself, but there’s just no point in recreating the same thing anyway. When I thought about what characterized that era… I’m sure there’s a lot of variation in what we call ‘80s, but it still brings a definite image to mind. For me, I associate it with the beginning of the digital age — plastic, angular. 8-beat rhythms and heavy use of FM synthesis [in the context of music]. It feels like, when I took that arbitrary image and combined it with the sound that comes most readily to me now, it turned out like this. If you actually compare that era with this one, I think there’s a difference in where music is played and how it’s used, too.

Your latest album didn’t include a lyric booklet. Why is that?
To start, I don’t understand the significance of lyric booklets (laughs). I know why they’re included on single CDs with instrumental versions, but I’m not making these songs under the assumption that they’ll be sung at karaoke, and besides, if there’s a booklet for the lyrics, won’t people look at that while they listen to the music? I don’t like that. I’d rather they spend the energy they’d use looking at the lyric booklet on paying closer attention to the music. Even though people should feel free to listen to music however they want, once you include a lyric  booklet, everyone will end up looking at that. Besides, I don’t think [capsule’s current music] is something you should listen to while looking at a lyric booklet anyway. Even when people listen to it in their rooms, I want it to be with the kind of energy that makes them run wild and destroy their furniture and stuff. When I’m working on music and I get excited, I dance along as I make it too. While striking a victory pose or whatever (laughs).

But you write the lyrics yourself.
Lyrics are important. Vocals are naturally an instrument themselves, and words have a rhythm of their own as well. You couldn’t say one melody was the same as another if the lyrics were different. So rather than the meaning of the lyrics being this or that — how should I put this? — it’s like a difference in how the music is played…

It wouldn’t be the same if the vowels were different, right?
Exactly. The sense of rhythm and tempo, how clearly you can hear the enunciation and so on are all important parts of lyrics, so I’m careful when I write them, but that isn’t to say a lyric booklet ought to be included for that reason (laughs). So writing lyrics feels more like a part of composing to me.

What made you choose the song title “Sugarless GiRL” for the name of the album?
I just used it because I liked the title of the song.

Is there anything you want to share about the highlights of this album or how you’d like for people to listen to it?
There’s no particular way I want to insist that people listen to it. I hope they’ll listen to it in all kinds of ways, whether that’s in a quiet place or somewhere really loud. I made the album so that even the noise of the city would sound like a meaningful part of the song, so I think it’d be interesting to carry it around in the car or on a portable player and listen to it in a lot of different places.