‘The Tower to Surpass the Clouds (Album)’ by Shining Fields
Whenever the name Shining Fields is mentioned in connection with music, enthusiasts of ambient, drone, or experimental genres take notice. Now, the solo artist has released a new full-length album, which is also available on cassette. With ‘The Tower to Surpass the Clouds,’ the artist delves into Japan’s history, specifically the time around the Great Kantō Earthquake. This earthquake marked a tragic moment in Japanese history. It halted the slow process of cultural integration and amplified the sounds of militarization and nationalism.
Foreigners, especially Koreans, were unjustly targeted by roving gangs. These gangs aimed to free Japan from foreign influence, which they perceived as a threat to the emperor’s power. In the days following the earthquake, anarchists Sakae Osugi and Noe Ito were pursued and executed by the military without trial. This incident became known as the Amakasu Incident.
Emperor Taishō passed away in 1926, signaling the end of his brief 14-year era. During this time, poetry, art, anarchism, and popular movements flourished. Many people resisted the inexorable military state that would lead Japan into war. The government brutally suppressed anarchists, socialists, artists, and intellectuals of all kinds. Many of them were unjustly imprisoned, disappeared, or executed.
Musically, Shining Fields really threw himself into this challenging subject matter, using a variety of sound collages to express his emotions. The album draws inspiration from Japanese artists, including Suehiro Maruo, Hiroshi Aramata, Seijun Suzuki, Tsuji Jun, and Kyojiro Hagiwara. Some track titles are derived from their respective poems. As we mentioned earlier, this album is a real treat for sound enthusiasts and music lovers in general! It takes you on a breathtaking journey through various genres, even hinting at dream pop.
Experiencing ‘The Tower to Surpass the Clouds’ as a complete work is highly recommended. And yes, as mentioned initially, the album is also available on cassette,
thanks to Moonside Tapes.
However, act quickly, as there are only 9 copies left according to the current count on Bandcamp. So, if you’re interested, place your order, wait briefly, and press play, it’s definitely worth it!
You recently dropped your album, ‘The Tower to Surpass the Clouds.’ How did the creative process go? Were there any songs that required extra attention, or did everything go according to plan?
The creative process for the new album had a lot of variation. I approached the album in different ways depending on which track I was working on or what kind of creativity was flowing at the moment. Some of the tracks I tried to work on in the same way I did earlier albums with my previous project Proud/Father using my old sampler and collecting shortwave recordings. I ended up using a lot of radio recordings which is something I have not added to recordings since then. Other tracks involved sequencing and use of synths in ways I’ve only learned how to do in the last few years. For these I wanted to try an approach more akin to Severed Heads or Cabaret Voltaire’s early music, synth heavy but very textural and experimental.
Some tracks were unfinished recordings pulled from tapes I have made in the last two years which I would then add tracks to while others were created from scratch in the context of the album. I would spend hours collecting samples from films that took place in the Taishō period and build textures around them that fit the tracks. The title track required the most attention. When the demo for “Tower” was completed and its lyrics finished I decided to build the theme for the album around the collapse of the Ryounkaku during the Great Kanto Earthquake and the events leading up to and following the disaster. While the title track was the first song that was completed in terms of structure, the final version ended up taking the most time and effort. Getting the guitars, vocals, synth drums, bass, and pads to all sit together with any clarity was a challenge.
The version you hear on the album did not come out exactly how I wanted in terms of a mix but the end result fits very well on the album. Finishing the title track was the moment where everything felt complete.
When it comes to creativity, the album tells its own story. How do you decide on the themes for your songs in general?
The themes on the album were inspired by three sources. The first was the book Tokyo Rising by Edward Seidensticker which I picked up in a thrift store some years before. The second was Seijun Suzuki’s Taishō Roman Trilogy, Zigeunerweisen, Kagero-za, and Yumeji. The final inspiration was Hiroshi Aramata’s Teito Monogatari series and the art and films connected to it, especially the original printing’s artwork by Seuhiro Maruo. A very kind and well informed book dealer in Japan suggested I also read Traveler with the Pasted Rag Picture by Edogawa Ranpo. It was a very good suggestion as the story involves a man on a train recalling his brother’s obsession with the Ryounkaku and his eventual disappearance. It has vivid descriptions of Asakusa before the earthquake which were in line with my curiosity of how the modernist architecture and surrounding entertainment were viewed by some. Tokyo Rising depicts the creation of Tokyo after the earthquake and the rapid changes between the earthquake and the American occupation. Zigeunerweisen depicts the clash of cultural tradition with innovation and western influence where the old ways of Japan linger like a ghost in the lives of those who are brashly trying to forget it. Teito Monogatari has not been translated into english despite being in print for over 30 years as Aramata does not believe it can be understood historically or culturally by other, particularly western, cultures.
The parts I have been able to read were thanks to dedicated grad students translating chapters for those who are interested in the story and there are several live action and animated films. Most people my age will know it as Doomed Megalopolis which was omnipresent in rental stores during the 90s. The more I learned about the Taisho period through Maruo and history books, the more the story of Teito fell into place, especially the elements of the clash between new and old and the desire of real estate moguls and city planners to create a new city that reflected modernist values. I do not consider myself a traditionalist per se but it is hard to overlook the influence of capital in how cities and countries were reshaped pre and post war.
Even with some sense of civic duty and altruism towards the people who must live and work in cities, money seems to be the driving factor in all decisions of capitalist countries. While researching for the album I discovered the work of Sakutaro Hagiwara and Tsuji Jun. Both men led very different lives which are too intricate to detail fully here, but I will say both had very open minds in terms of western influence and sought to synthesize what they read and learned into new Japanese styles of poetry, critique, and art. I saw them and the surrounding movements in art as the counter to the western influences in architecture, business, and power.
New modes of expression versus new methods of control. This conflict which seems to repeat itself in every modern culture was the main theme I tried to convey in the album with Ryounkaku as the symbolic tower that was doomed to collapse.
You released the album on cassette, which I personally see as a fantastic art medium. What was your reason for choosing that format?
I was very fortunate that Moonside Tapes reached out to me to submit material. Most of their output is through limited runs of cassettes so I did not have a choice in the matter but the album was always intended for tape and working with a label that understands that is something I always enjoy. I see cassettes as one of the most accessible mediums for creating and exchanging music. I remember some years back reading an article that dismissed the so-called “cassette renaissance” as a fad and criticized tapes for their quality and reliability. But I hear these same criticisms when people don't understand why some units have noise reduction or the different types of tape material. And like any piece of mechanical equipment it needs proper maintenance if it's been sitting around for a few decades. These same problems will affect CD’s and records and people who like to collect those formats understand this as well. I enjoy how easy it is to document music and non-music on cassette, the difference in quality of different cassettes and the ability to process sounds in a physical way. The ability to record, edit, erase, and share music through cassettes seems as revolutionary to me now as it did in the past. While it's true that computers and even cell phones now have replaced most of the functions of a tape player and allow people to record music in very simple and approachable methods I don’t believe this means the cassette is outdated or useless.
They seem to work closer to how I perceive human memory than digital means. Sound is stored on them in an ephemeral way that is not visible and sometimes has to be rediscovered. I am still fascinated by the ways that so many artists, musicians, and experimenters are still drawn to cassette tape and use it in terms of expression, creation, and communication.
You delve into various genres like Ambient, Drone, and Experimental. Do you think music is categorized into too many genres?
I’m not sure if I have ever thought about music having too many genres, at least not in depth. Genres have an interesting lifespan often starting as a constricting term applied so the general public, mostly critics and those looking to capitalize, can make sense of it. They seem to start off like marketing terms and then after some time the titles are taken back by artists from the following generation and cemented as a stylistic pillar of music. Obviously not every genre follows this pattern; funk, house, and industrial come to mind as intentional names. It can be helpful to identify music in terms of categories and sometimes it gives context to a time and place but more often than not it is a strange creation of journalists to codify unrelated things.
I find it increasingly bizarre how genres can become an identity for some people. I believe artists and the music they make should lead people to new ideas and the influences that informed their music without taking the idea of what they are in the eyes of the media too seriously. I don’t believe musicians need genre association any more than they need a tiktok account, but I suppose this depends on the motivations of the musicians in the first place. At least it helps find the stranger albums in record stores, I usually know exactly where to start digging.
Shining Fields appears well-suited to create the musical backdrop for a film. If you could choose, which film would you like to compose music for?
A very tough question and a very generous compliment! I recently completed my first soundtrack for a short film I made with a local experimental duo called Empty Model.So far it's been rejected by every film festival I have submitted to but who needs their approval, truly. I would love the opportunity to collaborate with a director and create something new for their work. I recently saw Takashi Itô’s last film Toward Zero which I really enjoyed. I'm glad he’s still creating new work and it would be a dream to work with him. His early collaborations with Takashi Inagaki struck me like a jolt of electricity when I first saw them. The way they interwove visuals and audio from their respective tapes seemed like another language compared to everything I had watched until then. It would be interesting to work with some modern genre directors whose films I have enjoyed like Prano Bailey-Bond, Anthony Scott Burns, Peter Strickland, Emiliano Rocha Minter, and Christian Ponce but I have no fantasies about working within the film industry. My hope is to collaborate more in the future with local filmmakers and artists to learn more about the craft of composition in film and hopefully create some strange films in the process.
Where would you choose as the special venue for a Shining Fields concert?
Another tough question! The first one that comes to mind would be here in Louisiana in an unincorporated section of land past Venice. It's as far down as you can get on land along the Mississippi River right before it terminates in the Gulf of Mexico. Past the last few refineries there is a huge smooth concrete structure that used to serve as a landing for helicopters. With coastal erosion you can see the Gulf from that location and in 10 years time it will most likely be gone. I think it would be an interesting place to drive down to with a sound system to perform a long set. There’s not much there for sound to reflect on besides the water.
I’m not sure if I could convince anyone to come watch a performance all the way down there but it would still be quite an experience with no audience. There’s so many hidden spots around New Orleans and Southern Louisiana I sometimes pass and picture an outdoor performance occurring at but the logistics are always such a hassle and guaranteeing an audience would be willing to try a new and inaccessible location is not something I specialize at. There are artists and promoters here that have managed to throw events at some very unique locations but these days I focus more of my energy on recording and working on artwork than promoting.
And finally, what are you currently working on?
Now that the album is released I’m working on a few video projects for certain tracks, two music videos and a one that is more an artistic preview/overview of the album. I’ll also be collaborating on music videos with my friends Nail Cub and storyinsoil for their upcoming releases. Nail Club recently started a label to focus on their own releases and selected releases from others called Optik Muzak and I have been contributing artwork and graphics when I can which has been a very rewarding learning experience.
In the past I have rarely done any artwork or music videos for others (I’ve very rarely done music videos for myself as well) so it has been a new experience collaborating with others to achieve their vision. I have been putting together tracks that will hopefully be released as an LP sometime in the next year titled “Graveyard of Memories”.
I also have been working on a few tracks with my partner and I’m hoping we can put together a release as a new project in the future. I’m excited to see what the rest of the year brings in terms of collaboration and music and I hope there are a few positive unexpected events between now and then to prevent stagnation. We’ll have to wait and see.
Photo Credits:
Photo shoot: Christa Ougel (pic 1)
Siberia one: Alex (pic 2)
Goat: Ridley (pic 3)
Mudlark: Joel (pic 4)
NENESBUTLER - INDIE MUSIC BLOG
