{"id":15642,"date":"2018-12-20T05:30:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T10:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15642"},"modified":"2018-11-12T15:18:45","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T20:18:45","slug":"the-yuka-chronoship-interview-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/20\/the-yuka-chronoship-interview-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yuka & Chronoship Interview, Part Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Not lost in translation<\/b>
\nBoth Funakoshi and Taguchi understand a bit of English, as evidenced when they would begin laughing or responding even before the interview questions were translated. But with the exception of the occasional guest vocal \u2014 like Curved Air\u2019s Sonja Kristina\u2019s lead on the Ship<\/i> track \u201cTears of the Figurehead\u201d \u2014 Funakoshi\u2019s lyrics are sung in Japanese.<\/p>\n

To a large extent, with Yuka & Chronoship uses Funakoshi\u2019s vocals an an instrument, more as a means of wordless expression. \u201cThat is exactly<\/i> what I try to do,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m trying to convey not just linguistic process, but the sound of emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And while some might detect a slightly Eastern vibe to the group\u2019s music, that quality is not intentional on the composer\u2019s part. \u201cListeners outside Japan will say that there are some parts of my compositions that sound quite oriental, very Japanese,\u201d Funakoshi says. \u201cPerhaps, the finger-play, melody and chords have some Japanese characteristics that I wasn\u2019t quite aware of when I was composing the tunes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Funakoshi says that when composing music, she draws inspiration from nature. Born in T\u014dno, a small city in the northern Japan prefecture of Iwate, Funakoshi describes her hometown as \u201ca very famous place in Japan because it is in the countryside with lots of nature.\u201d The history of T\u014dno is wrapped in folkloric tales of spiritual entities. \u201cThe beauty \u2014 and at the same time the brutality \u2014 of the nature there gives me the type of sound and inspiration for my musical creations,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

The voyage continues<\/b>
\nAfter Water Reincarnation<\/i>, Yuka & Chronoship moved forward less as a project and more as a cohesive band. Funakoshi describes the group\u2019s second album, 2013\u2019s Dino Rocket Oxygen<\/i>, as \u201cthe one where Shun tried to involve all the other players into the album. They worked very hard \u2026 probably too<\/i> hard,\u201d she says. The well-received album earned more positive notices, but like the band\u2019s debut, distribution beyond Japan was limited. For Dino Rocket Oxygen<\/i>, Taguchi realized one of his personal dreams when he prevailed upon famed artist Roger Dean (designer of countless Yes album covers) to craft a custom logo for the group. <\/p>\n

Yuka & Chronoship worked with UK-based Cherry Red Records to put together a worldwide distribution deal for the group\u2019s third full-length, 2015\u2019s The 3<\/i>rd<\/i><\/sup> Planetary Chronicles<\/i>. Though there would still be no international touring, Cherry Red helped bring Funakoshi\u2019s group and music to a wider audience. Reviews for Chronicles<\/i> were even more positive (and numerous) than before. And Funakoshi says the experience of making that album was more enjoyable. \u201cWe tried to make it a little looser than before, to create a nice ensemble of all four players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ship<\/i> was released worldwide on May 11, 2018. Funakoshi says that while the studio approach may change from album to album, her method of composing remains consistent. \u201cI am always trying to create songs quite naturally,\u201d she says, \u201cwaiting for the tune to come out naturally.\u201d <\/p>\n

Taguchi explains the ways in which he provides a kind of composer\u2019s prompt for the keyboardist. \u201cWhen I am planning to make an album, I will give a couple of themes to Yuka. And in the case of the new album, I gave her a picture of a figurehead, and asked her to make a song concerning the picture.\u201d Funakoshi did some investigating on her own, and stumbled on the Greek myth of Argo, the ship with which Jason and the Argonauts pursued the Golden Fleece. <\/p>\n

With that story in mind, Funakoshi composed the seven-part \u201cArgo Suite.\u201d Wordless save for Sonja Kristina\u2019s vocal turn on the elegiac opening movement \u201cTears of the Figurehead,\u201d the suite moves through different styles and textures in the grand tradition of classic progressive rock. \u201cYuka will make an almost endless number of melodies, depending on the kind of theme I give her,\u201d says Taguchi. \u201cThat\u2019s how the album was created, and how the different songs on the album were born out of our cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the growth of the band\u2019s fan base worldwide, highly-regarded albums and the ongoing Cherry Red distribution arrangement, there\u2019s every reason to expect more music from Yuka & Chronoship. \u201cI am always surprised to find that there\u2019s no fixed pattern to Yuka\u2019s music,\u201d says Taguchi. \u201cIt always excites me to give her a new concept. Because Yuka Funakoshi has an enormous store of musical ideas and creative sources.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two… Not lost in translation Both Funakoshi and Taguchi understand a bit of English, as evidenced when they would begin laughing or responding even before the interview […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,56],"tags":[2616,3637],"class_list":["post-15642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-prog","tag-yuka-chronoship","tag-yuka-funakoshi","cat-41-id","cat-56-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15647,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15642\/revisions\/15647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}