Art Your Life – four season tour (2013–2014)

“Art Your Life” is AYANO’s concert series that brings collaborations with various arts and technologies to a variety of spaces. As the name suggests, it means “bring art into everyday life.”
We hope art—including music—can permeate daily life, thought, and philosophy so deeply that it shapes how we live. Humans expand knowledge and experience throughout life—through school, work, conversations, advice, and relationships. Art, too, lets us encounter what we don’t yet know. That encounter can enrich life profoundly.
To create a setting where performers (speakers) and listeners (audience) can face each other with intent and composure, we favor seated formats and public spaces wherever possible.
This is the axis of AYANO’s activity: “Art Your Life.”

The four season tour “Art Your Life” comprised four solo concerts from 2013.04.20 to 2014.03.16, each aligned with a season.
We chose to span a full year so audiences could sense the changes in environment—and in AYANO—over a common unit of time. Seats were limited, so we did not use the usual “pay at door / name on list” system. Like a typical concert, tickets were purchased in advance. To thank those who secured their day for us far ahead of time, we offered early-purchase perks.

The perks were tied across all four shows and based on our song “RENSA.” The piece is inspired in part by Hayao Miyazaki’s “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.” It imagines humanity’s six million years as just one cycle in a recurring pattern of birth and extinction. We depicted one such cycle: the life of a goldfish, its return to soil, a seed sown in that soil, the fruit borne over time, and another life sustained by it.
No one collected all four perks—but we record the concept here.

Photo by Aya Ozawa

Overview

A planetarium concert colored by sound, visuals, and stars

Guest performers ▼

Visuals (VJ)

: VJ: Souda Uso
Studied film at university and began producing while in school. Worked as a line producer for local dramas and directed music videos/live videos; in recent years has engaged in fashion-related video and interactive design. Served as head of the entertainment division at an arts festival. After singing in the band Lillie Note, now active in new project ODD FOXTROT.

■ Souda Uso: http://soda-is.me/
■ ODD FOXTROT: http://oddfoxtrot.com/

Notes

The very first “Art Your Life” concert

The project began when Souda (now AYANO’s VJ) said, “There are venues that suit AYANO far better than live houses!” One such idea was a planetarium, so we chose it for the first “Art Your Life.”
We split the program roughly half visuals and half star projection. The planetarium device is designed to reproduce actual celestial motion, so extravagant movements are limited. We met closely with the venue operators to design a feasible program. With no rehearsal day besides the show, most of our time on the day was spent syncing the stars to the music.

It was also our first show with visuals (VJ). We wanted a collaborator who could understand the music on the level of a band member and “perform” visuals in real time. Souda stepped into that role, and we spent many hours sharing musical ideas. Visuals for this show were concrete rather than abstract, rendering the songs’ stories directly.

For three of the four members, this was the first-ever solo concert—so nerves were sky high. Because “Art Your Life” is self-produced, we handled everything from venue and tickets to gear, staff, and all printed materials. The pressure was immense—but unforgettable.
(Star fields were too dark to be captured in photos.)

Overview

Band × Strings × Visuals in a concert hall

Guest performers ▼

: Guitar: Kosuda Naomi
Picked up guitar at 14 and began band activity; wrote originals and performed actively in indie bands. After Re:sound disbanded in 2009, stepped away from the front line. Returned in 2011 as support guitarist for Azmelto.
: Violin: Aya (JIGENN)
Classically trained in violin from childhood; began singing punk at 16 after discovering the Ramones. Now active as vocalist/violinist in JIGENN and supports other artists.
■ JIGENN: http://jigenn.biz
■ Blog: http://aya-jigenn.cocolog-nifty.com/
: Violin: Keisuke Takashima (ptf)
Electric & acoustic violinist with a flair for interplay. Fronts progressive rock band ptf, handling composition and production; released globally via MUSEA Records.
■ ptf: http://ptfweb.com/

Visuals (VJ)

: VJ: Souda Uso
(Profile as above)

Notes

A hall performance leaning toward listening

After the spring show skewed heavily visual, we shifted emphasis back to listening—to the compositions and performance itself. Wanting a more classical format, we added two violins (Aya of JIGENN and Keisuke Takashima of ptf) and chose Swing Hall.
With strings, we needed to write parts and re-arrange existing songs. Though once trained, my own keyboard/violin chops had faded—thankfully, bassist Iku’s piano skills saved the day.

Whereas spring visuals concretely depicted the songs, here we made them abstract to encourage listeners’ imagination and balance with the music.

Despite a guitarist’s departure, experience from the first show let everyone relax. We briefly considered collaborating with contemporary dance, but adding “more things” isn’t the aim of “Art Your Life.” Our goal is to let audiences hear AYANO more deeply from different angles—not necessarily by piling on elements. Reactions were a bit divided, but musically the show was strong.

Overview

A dining concert colored by taste + sight + sound

Guest performers ▼

: Guitar: Kosuda Naomi
: Violin: Aya (JIGENN)
■ JIGENN: http://jigenn.biz
■ Blog: http://aya-jigenn.cocolog-nifty.com/
: Violin: Keisuke Takashima (ptf)
■ ptf: http://ptfweb.com/

Culinary direction

: Kazumi Miyazawa (Manpuku Hojin: Geijutsu Eiyogaku)
Re-examining happiness through food from both analytic and sensory angles. By day, works in marketing research; off-hours, runs food-education workshops, classes, and catering as part of the trio Manpuku Hojin. Known for playful sensory tricks and comforting flavors.
■ Blog: http://geijtueiyo.exblog.jp/
■ Food education column: http://cfs.or.jp/food_education/

Visuals (VJ)

: VJ: Souda Uso

Notes

A concert in a hall with a kitchen

Autumn suggests both the arts and appetite. We combined music with the essential element of “food” and held the concert at a small hall with a kitchen. We collaborated with Kazumi Miyazawa from the trio Manpuku Hojin, whose concept is “arts × nutrition.”
For the performance, Miyazawa expressed the content of the songs through dishes—not merely as refreshments, but as live cooking performed during the set and projected by the VJ. Using a transparent box as a canvas with a camera overhead, she “painted” with ingredients. After the show, the audience tasted the dishes.
Menu: “heavenly sushi balls” and “RENSA bruschetta” (both prepared during songs) + “dumplings of fertile earth.” This was later included on the bonus DVD for our first album “Few Steps To Heaven (and then...)” (Village Vanguard limited).

We also offered drinks so guests could relax—three original cocktails themed on our songs, crafted by Nishino of CHROTO, a dear friend and bassist.

Preparation was the toughest of the four shows—and we were recording in parallel—so we didn’t know until the very day if everything would land. Thanks to generous help from many people, it became a highly acclaimed night with strong momentum. We also surprise-announced our first nationally distributed album—news that was finalized literally the day before.

Overview

Finale of the four season tour — co-presented “Visuals & Music” at sonorium

Guest performers ▼

: Vocal: Ameri
Born in Tokyo in 1989. Began live activity at 16; performed at Tokyo Dome City Hall and Akasaka BLITZ in past groups. Now a solo singer-songwriter on piano with a violin-like voice and unique world.
■ Website: http://ameri1.webnode.jp
: Guitar: Kosuda Naomi
: Violin: Aya (JIGENN)
■ JIGENN: http://jigenn.biz
■ Blog: http://aya-jigenn.cocolog-nifty.com/
: Violin: Keisuke Takashima (ptf)
■ ptf: http://ptfweb.com/

Exhibit

: “Fleursy Candle”
Handmade candles with internal LED lights that flicker like flames or rainbows, bringing out unique translucence. Battery-replaceable and eco-friendly; every piece is one-of-a-kind. (A patented product by Ricco Label.)

Ricco Label — founded in 2008 by members of instrumental band Anoice and related projects to release original music and handle creative work from composition and recording to web/graphic/video. Since 2009, they also craft the handmade Fleursy Candle.
■ Website: http://www.fleursy.com

Visuals (VJ)

: VJ: Souda Uso

Notes

A concert in a pure white hall

The last show of the series was co-presented with sonorium’s long-running “Visuals & Music.” The venue’s owner, Mr. Kusunoki, has crafted a space with superb acoustics for acoustic instruments and a pristine white wall for projections.
With an album release in January and a short turnaround, we struggled with the content. We decided to envelop listeners—like in spring—by playing with minimal miking (voice only) and tuning instruments to the room.

To fill the white wall, we used three projectors—one surface in the first half, then three from the latter half. Within gear limits, we covered as much of sonorium as possible.

Mid-set, vocalist Ameri joined for three songs. After she tweeted, “I’d love to sing with AYANO,” we thought a female voice could reveal a different facet of our music. We chose two vocal-centered AYANO songs and covered her song “Medicine and a Walk.” Covering another artist’s song as AYANO was a first—for listeners to sense AYANO’s identity by contrast.

We often say AYANO fits winter best. Ironically, the original Feb 6 date was postponed due to a record snowfall. Yet the team’s bond strengthened, and it became a beautiful finale. After the show, many lined up to share impressions—faces shining. We still treasure that sight.