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. )

"Song of the Force" (or "Song of Power," perhaps) is another one of my favorites. It seems to be a song about folksongs, and the rhythm and sound effects are fantastic at evoking that magical, spiritual feeling of a night out in the open, when you hear animals and feel how insignificant you are.

Which brings me to a big translation problem. Usually I translation Hirasawa's lyrics from the first-person "I" point of view, even though most of the time he never uses a pronoun other than kimi/ "you." Not stating the subject of a verb works fine in Japanese, but not in English. Among other things, this song mentions acting as a flock (or herd, or group), which sounds awkward if it's from a single person's point of view. So this time (after much debate) I went with "we" throughout the entire song. I think this works with the idea of how communal folksongs typically are.

As always, I leave it to your interpretation.

平沢進 -「力の唄」
( Japanese lyrics )

( Romaji lyrics )

Hirasawa Susumu - "Song of the Force"
( My very awkward English translation )

Translation Notes:( Read more... )

"Philosopher's Propeller-1" is a great opening song for the Philosopher's Propeller CD. It's rousing yet whimsical. It's full of techno elements but has that bit of folk music blended in alongside some almost operatic falsetto. And it has lyrics that don't really make much sense to me but that are somehow beautiful. :P

In other words, it has a bit of everything that makes me love Mr. Hirasawa's music. ;)

If you haven't seen it already, the music video for this song is also pretty amazing.

And in case you're wondering about my tags) "Philosopher's Propeller-3" is the Solar Ray remix of "Philosopher's Propeller-1." Same lyrics for both.

平沢進 -「賢者のプロペラ-1」
( Japanese lyrics )

( Romaji lyrics )

Hirasawa Susumu - "Philosopher's Propeller-1"
( My somewhat fast and loose English translation )

The melody of "Philosopher's Propeller-2" is almost identical to that in the instrumental track "Albedo" on the same album. Both songs have what sounds like the chanting of some kind of sutra in the background, though it sounds more like a group of many people in "Albedo" and more like one single monk in "Philosopher's Propeller-2." (No idea what's actually being chanted, though.)

To go back to the alchemical background to this album, albedo (or "whitening") would be the second stage on the way to creating the philosopher's stone or (on a psychological level) transforming the self into something resembling enlightenment. Albedo is a stage where the individual comes to terms with the male and female aspects of their unconscious, and gets rid of "inflated ego and unneeded conceptualizations." (That might be part of the reason "Albedo" has no lyrics--they're unneeded. "Philosopher's Propeller-2" also has rather sparse lyrics and mentions getting rid of "today" and the past it's connected to.)

As this page notes, in albedo:

[A] white light appears. [...] The alchemist has discovered within himself the source from which his life comes forth. The fountain of life from which the water of life flows forth giving eternal youth. The source is one: male and female are united.

But enough. Let's look at the lyrics!

平沢進 -「賢者のプロペラ－２」
( Japanese lyrics )

( Romaji lyrics )

Hirasawa Susumu - "Philosopher's Propeller-2"
( My inelegant English translation )

Translation Notes: ( Read more... )

If you look at the album Philospher's Propeller, you'll see that tracks 2 through 4 are named "Rubedo," "Nigredo," and "Albedo." Another track later on the album is called "Opus." A quick glance at the Wikipedia entry for the term "rubedo" will tell you that these terms are connected to alchemy and (Mr. Hirasawa's favorite) Jungian philosophy. I've even seen Philospher's Propeller marketed as "Hirasawan alchemy."

But what does this actually mean? ( Read more... )

So, despite the order of the tracks on the album, perhaps we should try listening to the songs in this order: "Nigredo" then "Albedo" and then "Rubedo." "Albedo" is an instrumental track, but the same melody is presented with lyrics as the final song on the album: "Philosopher's Propeller-2." So, in alchemical order, the tracks might actually be "Nigredo" - "Philosopher's Propeller-2" - "Rubedo."

I'm going to translate all three of these songs to see if the lyrics brings us anywhere interesting in this strange world of alchemy and psychology. :)

Links to the lyrics translations:
- Nigredo
- Philosopher's Propeller-2
- Rubedo
- Opus