The fin. talks Why I can keep doing what I want to do at the age of 30 | My Navi News My Navi News My Navi

Yuto Uchino (Photo by Yoshiaki Miura)

I wanted to focus on something like "the power of melody" again

─Is it not just an altruistic feeling, but also for yourself?

Yuto: Yes. After all, isn't the world a huge community? I think it's a big challenge for all of us to think about what direction to take it. Luckily, I'm able to make a living from music, and I'm in a position where I can influence people, so I hope I can leave something good behind. For that reason, I wanted to broaden my horizons, rather than getting stuck in my ego and getting older, and I wanted to sing "hope" that there might be a bright future beyond that.

─By the way, what kind of music did you listen to when you were making this work?

Yuto: All the lyrics are private, so I don't think I was influenced by any work. Do you say that your life is the source of your inspiration? Ah, but when I started working on it, I thought, "I want to make an album like The Beatles' White Album." A work of "anything goes" with various elements like "White Album". That didn't happen in the end (laughs), but I was conscious of something like the medley in the second half of Abbey Road.

─In Yuto, the presence of the Beatles is quite big.

Yuto: It's really big. I started listening to it when I was in junior high school, and it really taught me everything. Both in terms of songwriting and vocals. When I was a university student, I was singing all the Beatles songs with an acoustic guitar in one hand. Also, after I started recording and mixing myself, I realized again how great the Beatles were. The more I learned about the Beatles' production, the more I thought, "It was really amazing." There are some things I learned from there. The 60's was a very creative era. I have a great yearning for it.

Also, when I listen to recent hip-hop albums such as Tyler the Creator and Frank Ocean, I am influenced by the fact that the songs are connected to each other and there is no gap between songs at all. And I think you are. However, I'm getting a little tired of the rap music I've been listening to all these years. I also wanted to focus on something like "the power of melody" again. When I tried it, I realized again that I really like the melody.

─The fin.'s music is often referred to as dream pop, chillwave, and shoegaze. Such sounds tend to be directly linked to escapism, but how do you feel about the relationship between music, politics, and social issues?

Yuto: As a listener, I can't and never want to completely escape with music. After all, I want to be involved with society, and in the first place, my lyrics are strongly tied to society. There are also songs that strongly show the side of fighting or struggling. There are some escapist songs among them, and I personally really like those types of songs, so I listen to them often.

─It's about time, so this is the last question. This is something I've wanted to ask you personally for a long time, but why do you think Yuto is able to freely create whatever music he likes and still be able to make a living with just music? do you want?

Yuto: I was thinking about that too. I first moved to Tokyo when I was about 23 years old, and at that time I was desperate to make ends meet, so I was working while thinking, "I have to earn more and sell more to make a living from music." But if that's the case, it's going to blur somewhere. Self-control there was difficult. The important thing in order to stay consistent is to properly ascertain what you want. Ultimately, I don't think you can be happy if you don't understand that.

─Determining what you want leads to "happiness". I think that's true.

Yuto: Also, I think it's about finding a good manager and staff (laughs). After all, when I'm doing it alone, there are times when I lose sight of myself. It is very important to have someone close to you who can fix it at such times. If I hadn't met my current team, I don't think I would have continued. In that sense, I was really lucky. It's been that way for a long time. My parents used to tell me, "You're always blessed with good people" (laughs). Ultimately, it's all about "people". Meet good people and work with good people. It is also important to demonstrate activities in this way. Isn't everyone watching the work you do and the choices you make? Each and every one of those choices is what connects us to others.

─In that case, I have to do what I want to do even more.

Yuto: I really think so. If you lie there, you will be connected and you will not be able to get out. Maybe that's what I'm most concerned about. Anyway, keep doing what you want to do purely. The fin. is just such a place. I think the most important thing is to create a place where you can do what you really want to do.

Photo by Yoshiaki Miura

＜INFORMATION＞

3rd Full Album

Outer Ego

The fin.

HIP LAND MUSIC

[DIGITAL・CD] Released on November 24th

[LP] Released on November 27

CD ¥2,750 (tax included) | RDCA-1068

LP ¥3,850 (tax included) | RDCA -1069

01. Shine

02.