音の帯〜Phonon Belt

Hello, how is everyone? :)

I have in my hands my first Hirasawa boxed set--HALDYN DOME. It really is a thing of beauty. And I am very excited to have all the song lyrics in one convenient PDF file!

It was also Mr. Hirasawa's birthday a few days ago, on April 2. Happy belated birthday! I wish him good health and good luck, and look forward to a new album from him soon!

Now...on to some music! It's time to look at some more tracks from the 1996 album, Siren. And why not start with the "電光浴" series? There are (as far as I can tell) three versions of "電光浴"--version 1, 2, and the "default" version from the single. 電光浴- 1 is simply the first half of the "default" version, and 電光浴- 2 is the second half.

The title of these tracks is (if you want to be overly literal) "Electric Light Bath," a reference to phototherapy and the idea of using UV or infrared light or simulated sunlight to treat a number of physical and mental ailments. [Edit: Just noticed that the English title on Mr. Hirasawa's website is "ELECTRIC LIGHT BATHING", so we'll go with that now. :) ]

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平沢進 -「電光浴- 1」
( Japanese lyrics )

( Romaji lyrics )

Hirasawa Susumu - "Electric Light Bathing-1"
( Rough English translation. )

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The siren that started playing in the background then smoothly transitions us into the second track of the album, the famous "SAIREN*Siren*" (not to be confused with "Siren*SEIREEN*" haha).

The second part of "Light Bath" doesn't play until almost the end of the album, right after the heart-wrenching "Siam Lights."

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平沢進 -「電光浴- 2」
( Japanese lyrics )

( Romaji lyrics )

Hirasawa Susumu - "Electric Light Bathing-2"
( Rough English translation. )

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I use "titanic" here in the sense of "made of titanium" but the idea of the Titans or the famous ship that crashed into an iceberg is out there, too. Not sure if that's intentional.

"Light Bath-2" then transitions into the unforgettable "Mermaid Song." Wow, what an intense album.

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Finally, for the sake of completeness, if you combine "Light Bath-1" and "2", you get the "Default Version." It lacks the siren sounds from "Light Bath-1" and is possibly a bit more therapeutic-sounding.

平沢進 -「電光浴 (default version)」
( Japanese lyrics )

( Romaji lyrics )

Hirasawa Susumu - "Electric Light Bathing (Default Version)"
( Rough English translation. )

This is one of the most beautiful songs ever, in my opinion. ( Read more... )

平沢進 - "Mermaid Song"
( Japanese lyrics )

( Romaji lyrics )

Hirasawa Susumu - "Mermaid Song"
( Rough English translation. )

An acquaintance of mine also says this song describes how Hirasawa fans respond to Hirasawa's singing--everything stops and we would like to drown ourselves in his voice. Ahem. Well. That is certainly another possible interpretation of this.