Bunsuirei | Interview | Impro-psych from Japan
Bunsuirei is a very unique impro psych band from Japan. They are mostly influenced by bands from the Japanese underground scene.
‘First gig’ was recorded as support act for Ché-Shizu on August 11th, 2019 in Tokyo. The first half of the album contains four unprocessed live recordings. A field recording of cicadas cawing is inserted as an interlude, and the second half contains a version of the same live recording mixed with environmental sounds such as crows cawing, water sounds, passing trains, thunder, crowded streets, and conversations. This is a unique double feature. The remix and sound arrangement was done by Baba Masami, who is a noted sound artist.
“My fingers just happen to move a certain way.”
I only recently heard about Bunsuirei. I was very pleasantly surprised. Would you like to talk a bit about your background? How did you first get interested in music and what are some of the early influences?
Yonju Miyaoka: My earliest memories of sound are of pygmy cassette tapes and the cheap sound of ‘Let It Be’ on a toy keyboard, which I listened to over and over. But I think the most important influence was the fact that my family played music on a daily basis. My parents were not great musicians, but they were both people who desperately needed music to help them through difficult times in their lives. My father later taught me to write songs. Another musical influence for me was elementary school which had a tradition of Japanese drumming.
How did you get together to form this group?
I got to know Haruki Sakurai when I saw Mochizuki Harutaka’s live performance in Tokyo. After the show, we talked and hit it off right away. He was also a fan of the Hallelujah’s and Shoichi Miyazawa. Later, I listened to his demo of a song that is now titled ‘Windowsill’ and said I would like to play the guitar on it.
I met Morio Tagami when I happened to be sitting next to him at a concert of Maher Shalal Hash Baz and I asked him to join me. He has a bass guitar, so when I thought of a band, he came to mind and we decided to play Bunsuirei.
‘First gig’ was recorded as a support act for Ché-SHIZU on August 11th, 2019 in Tokyo. Can you share some further details how it was recorded?
I was on the very edge that day due to the effects of my schizophrenia. I managed to stay alive and perform. My friend who was in the audience recorded it. We asked Masami Baba to adjust the sound. At the same time, we asked him if he could add some sounds to it, so that it would not lose its sense of life, and he sent me that remix version. His life’s work, field recording, was put to good use.
How do you usually approach music making? How important is improvisation for you?
I can’t notate music. In many cases, my fingers just happen to move a certain way. I can’t trace a predetermined phrase, so I have to improvise naturally. It means that I can produce a living, raw sound. It’s became too difficult for me to play something predetermined or something that has lost its freshness for me. But I also feel that it’s time to compose instead of improvise, so I would like to try doing that.
After doing some further research I found that this isn’t the only album you released with this group.
The first edition 100 copies sold out, so we made an additional 100 copies of ‘Dreamy 2018-2020’, a collection of recordings from our earliest days together to our most recent rehearsals. The three takes of the title track were recorded remotely, which was the way it was done before the Corona disaster due to the remoteness of where we lived. Also, the latter two songs have different members. More details are written in the liner notes of this CD-R.
How about your solo album, ‘home recording and live’?
This is a compilation of recordings made before and after I became ill with schizophrenia, so it was a difficult and unsettling time. The live concert is performed by my band at the time, Shuko No Omit, 2018, Tokyo and an LP of our live performances will soon be released by An’archives in France.
For the technical geeks, would you please speak to your guitars and the effects pedals you employ?
The guitar is a Telecaster, CoolZ , made in Japan. Effectors are a Behringer reverb and a Metal-Monster that was picked up from a garbage dump.
“Silence, the concept of “ma” in Japan, is one of the most important elements for us”
Then there’s a very interesting project you have with Sayaka Tenjin called Sayozoku.
Sayaka is my fiancée. She was poor and had no access to so-called music other than broken cassettes until she was in elementary school. The ocean and the sounds of nature was her music.
When she went to elementary school, she didn’t know a single song and had a very hard time being ridiculed by everyone. She had absolutely no knowledge of pitch or rhythm.
Sayozoku (The Sayo people), as the name implies, want to be an independent ethnic music group. We are influenced by existing notions of sound and making music , but we don’t want to be bound by them. Silence, the concept of “ma” in Japan, is one of the most important elements for us.
All of the releases are released via your own DIY Ekkogusa – 越子草Tall Grass Records. What’s the concept behind the label and what are some of the other releases you would like to highlight?
Ekkogusa – 越子草Tall Grass Records was started on a whim without me being able to organize it more fully yet. I wanted to make it like P.S.F. Records, but it turned out to be a place to release my own work. As for the highlights, I’d like to release the continuation of Tokyo Flashback, such as Chie Mukai’s works. Also, I bought a 10-inch auto cutting machine, so as soon as that arrives, I’ll be releasing more super ltd 10-inch series.
Can we expect a vinyl version of Bunsuirei or Sayozoku releases?
We are practicing and recording for them.
What are you currently up to? Any new recordings?
In Osaka, where I live at the moment, I’m recording a collaboration with Chie Mukai and the Sayozoku. When I move to Tokyo, in addition to the Bunsuirei, we will start practicing and recording for the record release of a unique and eccentric psychedelic no-wave band with more than 10 years of career, “le petit terezes.”
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
Ochibonoame from Homo Sacer Records and Asuka Kuroiwa first solo album「晩安」Both are CD-only releases from Japan.
Thank you. Last word is yours.
I can’t think of anything suitable for the last word, except to say that I want to live longer. I want to live long and make a lot of good music.
Klemen Breznikar
Bunsuirei Twitter / Bandcamp
Ekkogusa – 越子草Tall Grass Records Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp
Headline photo: Solo exhibition at Kobundo, Tochigi 2020 | Photo by Yonju Miyaoka
