Vermillion Syncretism (by SHELLF LIFE)
Vermillion Syncretism (by SHELLF LIFE)
Recording tool (DAW): Studio One 6.5 Professional
Number of tracks: 98
Sound source(other than band performances): Presence XT, Impact XT, Sample One, Maitai (All built-in sound sources of Studio One)
Mix period: July 1 2024 - July 20 2024.
The notes page of FMT's original Vermillion Syncretism
"What? Isn't this the guy...?"
(TI writes:)
I only found out about SHELLF LIFE recently, actually, and to be frank, this project was the first time I heard about them.
It is true that I worked with them this time around, communicating closely with them as if we were band members, but we had no contact with them before that. In that sense, it seems like an expansion or a kind of misinformation that FMT and SHELLF LIFE are the same members, as stated in this article.
Incidentally, this kind of extended interpretation was common in the days when the Internet did not exist and information was monopolised by the music press and some enthusiasts. This is how the underground scene became legendary and mythical.
As a party to this, the reason why we at FMT got involved with SHELLF LIFE is that we released a song called Vermillion Syncretism last year, and apparently one of them heard it, liked it, and contacted us through Jo.
And Jo told me that they were a band that had been active intermittently in Europe, mainly in Germany, since around the 80s, so I was really interested.
But when I looked into it, I couldn't find any information about SHELLF LIFE on the internet. However, when I looked at the names of the band members that Jo sent me, I found a mention of ‘ALEX SCHNEIDER’ and I thought, ‘What? Isn't this the guy who used to play in Japan?’ I suddenly became interested.
Incidentally, there is almost no information about Alex either, but according to my memory and the information available on the internet, he was probably active in Japan from the late 70s to the mid-80s, when Tokyo was at its most exciting.
One single (Lexington Queen) was released as a not-for-sale novelty item for the opening of a disco in Tokyo (the successor still exists in Roppongi).
The single disc is still occasionally listed on auction sites, where it fetches around USD 100,000. However, there is now a sound recording on YouTube, and only the sound can be heard (search for it).
Rumours persist that Ryuichi Sakamoto was involved in the project, and it has even been listed on auction sites under his name, but the sound and vocals are clearly not Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the credits themselves are in Alex's own name.
However, Ryuichi Sakamoto later covered this song and officially released it under his name under the title ‘War Head’, so there may have been some connection.
The VU article states that there are no photos of the members and that their faces are not clear, but as for Alex, the man on that single disc is probably the one.
So, through Jo, I sent them some information about Vermillion Syncretism's music, and they sent me a recording of a performance.
As far as the performance is concerned, it is probably the same person as one of the people shouting out the verses in ‘Lexington Queen’ (the vocalist singing the melody line is uncredited, but probably Yukihiro Takahashi, who was in the same band as Ryuichi Sakamoto, probably where Ryuichi Sakamoto's involvement was rumoured to have originated.)
There are similarities in the atmosphere of the poems and the sound creation, which is probably them, and I was excited to see how unexpected connections can be made when you have been doing music for many years!
SHELLF LIFE had also commented to me that I could have the sound processed in any way I wanted, so I utilised their performance and added some effect effects, sounds and phrases. TM also added some rhythms and corrected the timing.
Mood-wise, I'm aiming for an updated version of the avant-garde New Wave vibe that emerged from the sessions with Connie and Brian Eno and David Bowie on the mixing desk at Connie Plank's studio in Cologne in the late 70s and 80s.
Connie, Eno and Bowie also freely processed the musicians' live performances in the studio and added their own unique sounds. I wanted to try that feeling myself, so I enjoyed creating it with a different mindset from my usual FMT activities.
I think some of the takes actually have an atmosphere reminiscent of Talking Heads, Ultravox, Devo, David Bowie and Brian Eno.
Syncretism being made more modern
(TM writes:)
It's an honour that SHELLF LIFE has covered our piece called "Vermillion Syncretism" this time. Honestly, it has been very challenging.
When I listened to their version of 'Vermillion Syncretism', they were playing it based on our original arrangement. However, as they developed it further, they added more new characteristics; it seemed impossible to synthesise them all.
All I did for this is re-arrange to untangle the spaghetti of elements, which was quite fun.
The process like that is syncretism that occurred historically for hundreds of years all over the world, just as the Germanic and Celtic peoples adopted Christianity. In today's world millions of small, quick and personal opportunities for syncretism are happening and so many pairs to syncretise come from a distance, like passing through a wormhole from New York to Berlin.
About the release of SHELLF LIFE.
This is what Jo told me, but SHELLF LIFE has a negative attitude towards information dissemination and song distribution on the internet in the first place, and is not proactive. I could assume this from their history of activities so far, and I also thought so when I read the VU article.
I think Vermillion Syncretism is their first recording in a long time, but they were indifferent about releasing the songs and thought they could think about releasing them only after the recording was done.
In fact, through Jo, they had been talking to some labels about releasing the songs, but they insisted on releasing them as analogue singles, and the negotiations were unsuccessful.
However, Jo and we have the rights to the poems and songs, and we are involved in the production, which will be released on Jo and our website for distribution. This is probably their first release on the internet.
In addition, there are several performance files they sent us for this song, which we mixed and produced several Versions of the song for them to listen to.
The version that is available on Jo's website is the version that they themselves liked the most.
The version they chose was actually the one they liked the most, as it was the one that was the most modified from their original performance, with some of our FMT sounds added, which was a surprise to us.
However, FMT and Jo wanted to keep a take that was closer to their Original performance, so we agreed with them that we would like to publish that Version on our FMT website as well.
They seem to have a very good feeling about
the recording itself and are willing to record more new songs.
In that case, there may be a release in
this form for the cases in which we are involved.
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