The dazzling dance music led by the “Sun”

Aimer has released two new albums on 10th April, Sun Dance and Penny Rain.

Following her hall tour that recently concluded Aimer Hall Tour 18/19 “soleil et pluie”, she worked on two albums with following those keywords with Sun Dance being the Sun (soleil) and Penny Rain being the Rain (pluie). Featuring many bright songs with a dance ensemble is Sun Dance, and Penny Rain features many deep songs with some darkness within them. Two albums with entirely contrasting themes.

The first of two interviews is Aimer’s Sun Dance, originally posted on Natalie. This is the first of four parts.

The origin of ONE is the Sun.

You did a tour from October 2018 to January 2019. The title, in French, is soleil et pluie, or Sun and Rain. Which of these came first, the tour or the albums?

Aimer: Actually the conception of the albums came first. Last February, when we just released Ref:rain/Mabayui Bakari, we were thinking of what to do for the next album. We immediately thought of the idea of the Sun and Rain, and the titles Sun Dance and Penny Rain came about. With those concepts, we used that as the tour title, beoming “soleil et pluie.”

You thought of these quite some time back I assume. During the tour you gave everyone a preview of two songs included in Sun Dance, 3min and Monochrome Syndrome.

Actually, during the Fanclub event in August, I performed 3min already for the first time. Therefore, the planning of Sun Dance began with 3min. After releasing daydream and the best albums, doing the Budokan immediately after, I understood the importance of performing lives even more so. For everyone to enjoy the lives even more, I wanted to challenge an entirely new music style unlike before, an up-tempo song you can dance to for example, and that’s where the prototype of “Sun” came to be.

You said before in a previous interview that you wanted to do something similar. You made ONE for “everyone to be able to let loose their feelings during the lives and give their bodies to the music.”

As you have mentioned, after making ONE, I wanted to make even more dance music. That was where everything began. From zero (BEST SELECTION “noir“) to ONE…in other words the first big step. Yes, you could say the origin of ONE is the Sun.

That feels like a huge change in your thought process, isn’t it?

Indeed. If it wasn’t for people who listen to my music, I’d be singing dark songs forever. I really liked it and in the past I always wanted to sing the Shoegazing style.

I’d like to hear that regardless.

However, as more people began listening to me, I got to sing in places like halls, and I wanted to get closer to fans through my songs. Until ONE, I didn’t have that feeling but when I first performed it at Budokan, at the moment when I saw everyone standing and clapping, I honestly though “this moment felt good.”, and because everyone accepted that part of me, I changed as well.

All songs were produced by agehasprings since 1st album

The beginnings of Sun Dance was ONE, but before that is an ambient instrumental titled soleil as a prologue.

Actually soleil was the song used as the opening sound effect for the “soleil et pluie” tour.

Oh! I was actually at the Tokyo stop in December but I didn’t realise it at all!

I hoped that some people who may have went to multiple stops would have realised it. Even in the tour setlist, the first song was always ONE, so it connects very naturally. I playfully requested it to be the overture for the album. The song feels like it is hyping something big, as if something is going to begin. It’s a personal story but, I actually got very excited waiting backstage when I heard this song so that feeling comes back every time I hear it.

Seeing the album as a package, it feels perfect as an opener.

Yes, soleil was made by the producer of ONE, that is Rui Momota so it has the essence of ONE in it. By the way, all the songs in Sun Dance was created by agehasprings. It has been a long time since I did that. First time since the first album. In that sense, it felt more free, and more conceptual than anything recently.

Source: Natalie