|||About the concept|||
—- Please tell us the concept of the new album.
Yuki: The title of this album is “absence of objective world”, and the theme is about human “Umwelt”.
This theme came to my mind when I learned about the concept of “Umwelt”, advocated by Jakob Johann Baron von Uexküll.
All living things, including humans, has its own perceived world, and this world creates a “world” by giving meaning to only what it perceives on its own. From this, it can be said that there doesn’t exist in this world that people don’t recognize, and that all living things lives in their own unique world.
Tick is often is used as an example to explain the concept of Umwelt.
Ticks doesn’t have any visual or auditory sense, and they can get to the blood of the nutrient source only by the sense of smell. Therefore they wait a long time for the warm-blooded animals to approach them from the trees, and they fall from the trees right at the moment when the mammals pass underneath. For the ticks, only the smell of butyric acid from the animal and the body temperature of the mammals are said to be the “real world”.
Humans also make judgments by looking at things in their own senses, values, and intellectual standards, and process them to believe it as reality. If such people live their lives, there are chances we collide and fight, and if our values match, we can also become friends.
Some people may consider something to be fun, but some may not consider it to be fun, and it interested me to think that the world is composed of a group of people with such various value standards.
—- It is a very simple analogy, but some people are not good at spicy foods, whereas others love spicy foods, and there are different people who likes different music genres. Just like that, the way we feel about each world is different, right?
Yuki: Yes, I think there are differences in the thoughts and senses of each person and the judgment of right and wrong, and when an individual’s selfishness becomes strong, it becomes impossible to respect others, and if this discrepancy becomes large, it may lead to conflict or perhaps war between countries.
This is a theme that continues from the previous album, but as a person, each person has their own justice and evil, and everyone thinks their own value is absolute.
I’m concerned that the more we become selfish, the values will collide with each other and the world becomes less integrated. And I myself was confused by various senses of values in society, and sometimes felt I can’t forgive someone based on my own judgment of good and evil, so I was looking for my own way of life and way to accept the world.
However after learning about Umwelt, I’ve been getting the feeling that the concept of absolute good and evil that I believed in may not exist from the start. I thought that if the objective perspective is also someone’s absolute perspective, this world may not have an objective existence. And I thought that if we could realize it, people can become more free.
|||About the music video|||
Music Video: Philippe Léonard [ https://www.philippe-leonard.com/ ]
(Member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor etc, as visual producer and live performance. 16mm film video artist.)
—- Your first music video is released in this work, how did you come to produce it?
Yuki: I never thought that Philippe, who was one of the special guests this time, would take the offer of MV production.
When we released the new album, we wanted to make an official MV and wondered who would be the perfect creator.
At that time, Eric from thisquietarmy told me that he’s worked with Philippe on his shows, so he introduced us Philippe. Then he was very interested in our work and we were able to work together this time.
As with him, we had a great time discussing the theme of the song and what kind of work we wanted to make.
I noticed great artists will tackle an art with their own unique senses. And feeling the resonance between those different senses are very pleasant and is a valuable experience.
I was given many pleasures through making works together with many artists. Thinking back, this is an is the completed album completed through those precious time spent together with them.
|||About the album artwork|||
Album artwork: Tomoya Matsuura [ http://ensl.jp/tomoyamatsuura/ ]
(An artist who produces work using Scanning Electron Microscope)
—- I think you can say that “you can be free” is linked to PoS’s free-form activities after becoming the current duo band.
Yuki: Yes, maybe so. After all, my heart greatly affects what I express in the band, so changes in my mind may also change my environment.
When I was thinking about the theme of an album, I remembered Tomoya’s photo of plants taken in macro, and I thought that it links to the concept of Umwelt, so I asked for the offer use of this cover photo.
He is also in a shoegazer band called monocism in Osaka and we have known each other for a long time and was also happy to be able to share in this way.
We had various problems until the album was completed, but I tried to question myself each time and figure out what I really wanted to do, and we challenged without fearing or giving up.
Then I had a moment where I felt the dots were connected, and people and sounds were connected and spread. So I became full of happiness and gratitude.
And at last the album is completed. It is hard to continue band activities, but I realized again that it is important. Even if I worry about something in my head, nothing will change. I learned that things change because I take actions.
