Koki Nakano collaborates with Yael Naim on “Howling,” a track defined by delicate piano motifs, ethereal vocals, and a a hauntingly beautiful cinematic atmosphere. Read our discussion below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
Sadness, Romanticism and Imaginary.
Can you elaborate on the childhood memory that inspired ‘Howling,’ and how it shaped the mood and direction of the track?
It is related to a childhood memory of mine. When I was a kid, at night, my father used to bring me to our balcony to show me the moon when it looked particularly beautiful.
I often used to beg him to bring it to me, as it looked so close.
He enjoyed recounting this episode to me because a famous 18th-century haiku described a child reacting in the exact same way, with tears. I recall this feeling as my first, faint awareness of the vast distance between myself and certain things, certain layers of the world. On this track, I wanted to translate these feelings to music using a polyphonic approach of piano, and vocal melodies evoking solitariness.
Yael has mentioned that the lyrics for ‘Howling’ came naturally while recording alone. What was it about the song that made this process feel so organic for you?
I think Yael and I have some common interests, such as the relationship with water and our bodies, which I explored on my last album. She immediately understood the concept of the track when I sent it to her, as well as my global vision for my upcoming album ‘Ululo’ (which means also howling/crying in Latin). She also understood that I wanted to make a sort of counterpoint to ‘Oceanic Feeling’, something more focused on the realities of a physical world and body limitations.
The metaphor of the wolf howling under the moon is powerful. What is it about this imagery that made it the perfect symbol for the track?
The moon is crucial in our life circles : it defines things like the ocean’s tide and flow, or the seasons. The act of howling translates sincere but ambiguous meanings, two things contained in the struggles of physical existence (a call for empathy, a claim for one’s own territory, expressing sadness). These elements evoke poetry to me.
It was nice to keep this symbol in my mind (which is kind of cliché) to express these essential struggles. Also for the fact that ultimately, we are incompetent to solve it. This cartoonish image brought some kind of ‘lightness’ to these feelings and it also created a loophole to flit to a fantasy or romanticism for me.
Baroque music is a significant influence in ‘Howling.’ How did you balance the complexity of baroque music with the simplicity you were aiming for in the pop structure of the song?
I would say ‘Ululo’ is romantic music, yet aware of negative legacies of romanticism such as heroism, excessive subjectivity or egoism which were all enhanced by the growth of nationalism. But for this album I am fully inspired by the beauty of romanticism : the celebration of the power of imagination, nature, and love. I wanted to have these principles in a more contemporary way, with the act of “howling’ dealing with the struggle of existing in this physical world.
I voluntarily took away some heaviness, dramaticness of romantic music often as if it’s not really necessary for me today.
I’m mainly playing the same instrument of romanticism era’s composers and I’m living in the world of pop culture. With technology, physically we are released of some physical limits to a certain degree. Creating music by midi or electro instruments for instance. I wanted to create today’s balance in romanticism as it was anyway necessary to express the feeling of Howling.
This image even led me to reconnect with the very simple reason of how I have been driven to do music. When I was child, that evening in front of the moon, the choice I had was only howling ; even my father, who I believed could do anything, couldn’t do anything for me. The energy behind this howling is still a reason why I keep creating and playing music.
With Ululo, I tried to transcribe both for my real keen struggles and my romanticism.
I’ve been wondering how I could extract some specific emotions which the polyphonic music shows to me. It is the beauty of the corporation of independents, it is some attitude a group would create. As polyphony tends to require strict rules, it naturally brings the sense of the abstinence which is one of my favorite parts of it. I think there is a way to retain these effects that are not going to be so complex. I believe there is a hint on it. I will continue to look for it!
If Johann Sebastian Bach were alive today, what kind of music would he compose?
Apparently, he composed for many different genres, both in religious and popular music. He was also keen to absorb traditional and contemporary styles in his time. I’m pretty sure he would have made music using all the options and would be a cross-genre artist.
What the future holds for you?
I’m working on the music for dancing and for film right now! 😊
Thank you!
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