Lack and loneliness in Dendrobium

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A different release from the latest DADAROMA productions. A vibe full of with psychedelic elements. A mood that reflects joy and melancholy between the songs. “Dendrobium” is, for sure, an innovation in the band's discography, but it still with a very important DADAROMA brand: symbolic elements and criticism of relationships from nowadays. In this analysis, the proposal is to expose musical, symbolical and metaphorical issues, and talk about some parts of the songs, which are all translated here, on the blog.



Read also: About the Dadaism#... series, and about Dadaism#4

But before we start talking about any impressions about the CD, it's important to talk a little about the title ('cause, just as in other albums, it has a big influence on the theme of the songs). Dendrobium is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids, this mean that they need trees to survive; they don't steal nutrients, but they use them to as support to survive and keep growing. The species is also found in various colors on its leaves. Now, having said these details that may seem irrelevant, let's talk about the Single.

Look at me more

With this initial kick in this kinda of psychedelic experiment before we get into the first heavy riffs, Yoshiatsu seems to ask for our attention. Music passes through three different genres; psychedelic/electronic elements, a progressive metal and a gothic background touch in some parts. Like the flower of the song that gets its name, the video has many colors, including much psychedelism. The opening song from this single invites us to experience a musical madness; we have melodically sung parts, other more shouted, some overlapping in "sound box" effects, using and abusing the effects of music production.

More than the words "I love you"
embrace me strongly.
'Cause, when such love takes a shape
it instantly breaks.

I could choose great part of the song, but this one perfectly centers its initial message, at least in its first part. The lyricist sings how he needs the relationship from the start, with platonic “kiss” and “sex”; more than that, he doesn't even need this to happen at all. This is the idea, to the narrator is more important to keep the person close than to love, because, according to him, words like "I love you" only ruin everything - a criticism of the banality of these words in today's world. The lyricist needs this support and, although he doesn't want to lose kisses and sex, he prefers it not to happen and that the relation become platonic if this avoid the misuse of "I love you" or as he calls in the music, a "cheap love". There is only one problem with that…

She is a girl who wants real love song.

With this part the lyricist makes it clear how the other person wants a romance and he doesn't. He doesn't feel in love, but wants to continue what they have because it is comfortable for him. "Love Song" as he says, is basically a song about passion and love in a romantic way. The girl he's dating wants this kind of content from him - but he can only offer “suffocating and empty feelings” that are deep in his heart because he doesn't love her. He simply needs her like a Dendrobium needs a tree.

So we get into the second song from this single “最後に抱きしめたあなたは少し泣いていた (saigo ni dakishimeta anata wa sukoshi naiteita)” or “In the last time I embraced you, you was a crying a bit” sounds like a melancholy and cute “Love Song”, including in his lyrics, but that's where DADAROMA reestablishes itself as a highly intelligent band in their productions. What if I tell you that this is a more cynical song than romantic?

I hurt you so many times
for having this personality.
Since then your smile has became cloudy, hasn't?

Which personality? Oh, of course, the one previously mentioned in Dendrobium. Earlier we had the vision of a lyricist charged with cynicism and disbelief in love, but wanting, needing, to experience that relationship. Then, in SNDAWSN we have a lyricist "apologizing" for the damage done to the other person. And he doesn't even try to disguise for too long. In the third stanza he already says “I can't tell you that I wont go away, I fell that I already can't mess your future anymore” a direct link to the previous song and the first lines of the song where he says “we talked a lot about those empty promises about future, isn't?"

Without saying goodbye
We waved our hands and said "See you"  

many [of the pairs] of lined shoes were in half
and I finally realized that you had a lot of patience  

Little by little, opening the distance between our hearts
and I don't even tried to notice that.
Since then, your tears had increased, right?

One more part connecting to the previous song; the lyricist seems to have lived with this person for a long time, moving further away from love as the woman grew sadder and sadder. He notices how patient she was at the same moment that realizes that has crossed the line and, implicitly, wonders "how has she bore this so much?"

This song is cynical, because the lyricist doesn't really seem to care about the other person, but doesn't want to hurt the other person even more; on the other hand, is extremely sad to think that the woman got into a relationship without depth, being used by the neediness of the other - or did she need a tree too? That kind of thinking seems to be the key to the album: we, as humans, depend on other people.

Even the farewell quoted in the song is like a casual situation, just like the relationship presented as the theme of the Single. But the lyricist is still trying hard not to be a total scumbag by saying “Thank you for being by my side until now I'll give my best alone from now” - a polite way of breaking with other person, quite common in Japan, but here a lot cynical, because the lyricist doesn't want to be alone like that and just doesn't want to hurt her also, although he doesn't seem to really care about finding someone else and hurting this one either.

 捨て猫のロンド(suteneko no RONDO)

And with that phrase followed by a sequence of drums, guitar and background vocals, we enter the last track and no less brilliant. A song that focuses on a repetitive and high spirited rhythm in the most of the time and heavier on other parts, abusing of the bass and fast Yoshiatsu's vocal abilitys. After seeing a lyricist in need of relationships empty of love and after cynical in saying goodbye to those same relationships, do we fall into a song talking about a… cat? Really? This song deserves extra attention 'cause it ends the three acts of the Single with a series of metaphors and symbolisms.

Look what I just found, this is a good secret place.
The dinner will be stale fried shrimps
and I'll wet my throat in this ditch that is full of water.
Where will I go tonight?

The opening stanza is brilliant; after breaking up the relashionship, the lyricist ends in somewhere, singing a story with a "childlike air". As we have the impression of being a song about a stray cat (rondo is a style of musical composition, but the song itself is not a rondo, just as it doesn't speak of a stray cat, isn't it?) we may take it literally, but the great idea is in the second verse when the Ebi Furai (fried shrimp) is quoted.

This dish is famous in “Bentous” and is a very popular food among children. It's the kind of person we've seen so far in Single, a man who needs someone to survive, just like a child. The lyrical-self of this song is not about a cat, but about the same as the other two songs. So why to use a cat? Because he is gallant, he is free, a nocturnal animal, a loose, seductive animal, just as the lyricist sees himself. It is interesting to note that the dish is even more popular in the region surrounding the hometown of Yoshiatsu.

The third verse has the term "ippai" a typical drink count, suggesting that "ditch water" is alcohol, concluding that the man is getting drunk, so he is curious about his fate at night.

A dog with a collar
laughed at me
[but] if you see this from my angle
he is the most miserable and pitiable 

I don't know why, but I feel a bit lonely
[when I] sleep in this back-alley while the rain falls over
As I'm free, I'll live without being tied
and look to the light of the houses.

The dog wearing a collar is nothing more than a committed man (either with a woman or with life in general, employment, etc.). The lyrical-self knows that he is being joked by his condition, but to him, those who are really pitiful are those on a collar. In this part, is still following the formula of telling a story in a childish and sung way, at the end of the verse “he is the most miserable and pitiable” the song has a twist, becoming faster and more aggressive just as that the lyricist notes that he is lonely living like this, but since he is free, he will not be tied to anyone or anything, only to follow his life through the city.

Now I start running
relying only the moonlight
and melting in the darkness
My rondo of a stray cat

Towards the end of this part, the aggressiveness slow down in the voice, and returns to the calm and almost childish sound in the last verse. The lyricist is lost in the night, his "abandoned cat rondo" is just a metaphor for a repetitive life. The rondo is marked by the composition of (A B A C A), that is, a repetition of sections of the song, although the repetitions may vary, they are always expressed by the "A" among other sections, turning it into a cycle. The phrase “My rondo of a stray cat” is a way of elucidating that things repeat themselves, even if there are changes in the middle, probably the people he hold himself into will to change, but not his need to be with someone.

The stray cat that has only one ear became thin
and the injury on its right leg got rotten.
I wonder if that dog who sees me with dirty eyes
it's sleeping in a warm bed

After incredible bass solo and even a meowing cat, the song returns to a progressive, ambient metal, then epic lyrics return; the stray cat got worse and worse (important to note that Yoshiatsu wears a huge earplug on one of the ears, indicating that the cat may be himself) and then contemplates the question: are people stuck to something / are people sleeping in the comfort of a home? This part of the music recovers its aggressiveness and speed that continues like this until the end, in the following stanzas:

Probably, this is the last night
I sleep in this back-alley while the rain falls over.
As I'm free, I lived without being tied
and looking to the lights of the houses. 

aa
I fall asleep
in this back-alley where there's no one
lonely
abandoned in this alley  

I rely only the moonlight
that I saw for the last time
[while I was] becoming cold.
My rondo of a stray cat

The lyrical-self continued to drink nonchalantly. He falls asleep at the bar, alone, feeling abandoned (stray). Your last hope is to trust the night to come, to repeat it all over again. The term used for cold is "tsumetaku", commonly used to express cold things like "cold blood", but it is very common in Japanese poetry to use this expression for lack of human warmth, just as the lyricist finds itself at this moment while falling asleep in an alley.

This is a song about having no course, being completely free, and how lonely and sad it can be; especially for a lirical-self that needs other persons, just like in Dendrobium.

CONCLUSIONS 

DADAROMA is not playing games in this Single. A sudden change of look, “straight” lyrics (but with their ambiguities when analyzed from other angles), a mix of heavy passages and a ballad. It is very different, unexpected single, I'd say. Yoshiatsu played less with his rips, drives, gutturals, and all his vocal paraphernalia from other releases, but he never lost his way in writing about real things from our world. His voice has been well balanced to support the faster rhythms, but still fail in slower songs, lack sensitivity in his voice, but this is the most personal comment of this analysis. Takashi is destructive on guitar, going through heavy riffs to tame moments with mastery, but my biggest surprise was Ryohei on drums, his work is amazing, even the quietest music has its absurdly strong presence. Finally, I can only speak of the bass solo presented very well by Tomo in "suteneko"  that was creepy to create a heavy atmosphere in the midst of a more "high spirited" harmony.

The title of the Single is brilliant when analyzing each of the songs and as a whole. “Dendrobium”, a flower that needs a tree, a larger and tougher suport to survive; Dendrobium, a man who needs a person to survive and without it, lives like a falsely free cat, alone and cold in bars. A journey in the life of this needy character, desperate for other people, but disillusioned with life - which is nothing more than the human being himself. A fantastic narrative that only DADAROMA could give us in three acts. A mixture of sadness, anger and self-preservation present in the lyrics. The world designed by DENDROBIUM songs is a hard place for the romantics, as it seems that no one is interested in sincere love, just that cheap and ugly one.

This is a GOGUN's review.

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