Newtype Magazine March 2001 - Tell us about 'Lucy'!

Hey all, long time no see. Sorry about the lack of updates, being a final year student is not fun. Very, very busy and very difficult work-wise. I'm in the middle of writing my dissertation at the moment. Anyway, I took a look at Sora's old Maaya site today and found that the old magazine scans there were readable (they weren't too blurred) so I translated a blurb on Lucy from back in 2001 that Maaya wrote. It's quite nice. Enjoy!

Newtype Magazine March 2001 - Tell us about your new album 'Lucy'!
translated by Pippa (me!)

The title 'Lucy' was quite an unexpected name (laugh). When I thought of "Lucy" there was no one among the staff who objected; there was a strange feeling of being convinced that “Aa, this album is ‘Lucy’, isn’t it.”….If you were to find Lucy in Japanese I think it would be an orthodox name like ‘Hanako’. Something that just about anyone could be, a shell that anyone could fill. I’d like to think a listener could think “I'm Lucy too”.

My image of her is that Lucy is an inhabitant of a grand old American age. Without a city as such but going to school in a state like New Jersey. In my head I have a perfect Lucy World. Her friends and the people in her town are modeled on the people around me and I’ve given them names like Ken, Mike etc. For my next live concert I want to make Lucy’s World the theme.

By the way “Lucy” is my third album, but basically it’s from the same stance as my first and second albums, in that this is the me that I want to present at that exact moment in time. It’s been just over two years since my second album and even if I’m set free during that time, that I’m changing more and more and that is reflected in the songs and lyrics I create.

With that in mind, “Lucy” contains the songs, things, lyrics that only the me who is here now could pull together. They are only things I think are important, concentrating on what I want to say, but in that respect nothing has changed since my first album. The point of view that these eyes have and the scenery around are changing bit by bit in order for me to transmit these things. That is the ‘smell’ of “Lucy”.

Until now there has been a trend inside me to search for the perfect me, “I have to be like this”, “I don’t want to fail” these sorts of feelings were very strong. But they disappeared with last year’s summer live. I felt “I can tell it all with just simple, straight things”. Even if I got lyrics wrong during the convert, even if I wasn’t cool, I was happy to have it all on show. I trusted the fans and the staff, I guess I had piece of mind.

The other 7 songs on the album, I wrote the lyrics myself. For example, on “Stroboscope Sky” I wrote straight after a concert and it’s the song that is the closest to how I felt at that time. When I was freed from the labour of “I have to be like this” instead of feeling comfortable, I felt like I was I was on some sort of road and there was a decision of “Instead of just standing here I have to satisfy myself and go forward”. I think the huge tension that I felt at that time came out.

“Alkaloid” is a love song. Like being on caffeine from coffee, even though it’s bad for your body, a feeling that becomes painful…it’s that sort of love song. I think it’s a song that really is Lucy-like, I guess you can say it’s really cute!

The vibration of “Lucy” enters the ear and soul with a gasp, I think it’s an existence I like. Please try listening to this album.