Start Listening To: Motohiro Nakashima
Let’s gather the light shining through a veil of melancholy and clouds of social strangeness.
Lost in between the contradictions of the human condition and the realization of no foreseeable way out of the mass-produced and consumed reality of the 21st-century’s society, a Japanese ambient folk guitarist from Fukuyama, Motohiro Nakashima decided to let them be.
On his sixth studio album, Gathering The Light he rejects the overpowering modern mess and instead of going on a gentle journey chasing sun rays and looking at the world through the raindrops. It’s a moving quest for beauty and serenity in simple things. Produced over the last nine years, the album influenced by English acoustic formation Amazing Blondel and 60s/70s trad-rock is revolving around Nakashima’s signature finger-picking-style guitar. He paints an ethereal landscape, providing a perfect escape for anyone wanting to runway from the overbearing outside noise of the big cities or rambling thoughts.
Today, the guitarist teaches us a lesson on how to stand still, even if for a second, and live lightly.
Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
I’m Motohiro Nakashima, a Japanese guitarist, from Fukuyama where located in the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. Music based on acoustic guitar, interspersed with piano, clarinet, saxophone, strings, and other instruments. The electric guitar and effect pedals create an ambient atmosphere. Music is a means of self-expression for me, and a tool that connects me to others. It also acts like an oxygen tank.
How did it all start?
When I was 12 years old, I got a CD player. We had many classical piano music CDs in the house because my mother was a piano teacher, and I listened to them like Debussy, Schumann, Bach etc. At the age of 13, I started playing the guitar and listening to classic rock like Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, The Who etc. After playing in copy bands with my friends, I started writing songs around the age of 16. When I was 18, I got a 4-tr cassette MTR and a drum machine and started recording songs. And here I am now.
If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?
I always have trouble explaining my music to people who have never heard it before. Sometimes I say it's just quiet music, sometimes I say it's like movie music. Because I'm not very good at expressing myself with words. Here is a quote from my profile: ‘The sounds is calm like The Seto Inland Sea where he grew, and sometimes it has a gloomy expression like a sun setting on the sea. The finger-picking-style guitar plays warm minimalism like a wave, and the melody that reminds people's memories are gentle and friendly.’
How are you feeling about the release of your new “Gathering The Light" album?
I feel so great to share the album with you all! The actual production time of Gathering The Light is about 9 years. It took me so long that I forgot about the early stages of production. It’s like taking one big breath after deep sinking. Great joy!
Can you tell us more about the themes behind this album?
Gathering The Light is personal work. In the background, there are contradictions. In the midst of the mass production and mass consumption of modern life, and the environmental pollution that accompanies it, the fact is that I exist in a dilemma where I cannot escape this contradiction, as I am forced to rely on them while questioning and denying them. This is the idea that lies at the root of the difficulty in living that I have felt all my life. I believe that creating music is like "gathering the light" for me.
What influenced writing “Reflection” and video for it?
The song is Inspired by Uri Shulevitz’s picture book “Dawn.” It expresses the reflection of mountains and light on the surface of the lake and the ripples of a slowly moving boat. And the same can be said for the relationship between people.
The music video directed by a movie director Toshinori Tanaka, who directed the beautiful documentary film of Takuji Aoyagi “RESONANCE” (https://www.toshinoritanaka.com/resonance/). Toshinori focused on “joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure” in the video. You can see the various expressions of the children. And we can feel the same emotions when we see their expressions.
What inspires your music?
Inspirations include memories of the past in the corners of my memory, natural scenery, trivial events in my daily life, feelings that I can't put into words, my existence within the social structure, a bicycle for commuting, children, music I like, insects and freshwater fish, sea etc. I was listening to a lot of 60s and 70s British trad-rock in the early stages of this album's production. In particular, England by Amazing Blondel had a lot of influence on me.
What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your band?
A spoonful of melancholy and sprinkling social issues that are important to you on the music you trust.
If your music were a film or TV show which would it be?
Someone is walking aimlessly down an empty, straight road. Nothing happens. Nothing special happens. Just the same scenery. He/She doesn't have a purpose, and doesn't know why he/she is walking. He/She finds himself/herself sitting on a bench. Hearing the sound of the trees swaying in the wind. Then He/She notice that small flowering plants are spreading all around. Suddenly, the scenery around changes. Like a dream. There was a lake in front of him/her, glistening with the reflection of the sun. He/She wonder how many hours passed. Just still walking. Just like that. Towards something he/she can see a long way ahead.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger?
“The Definitive Simon and Garfunkel” the compilation album by Simon and Garfunkel
and why it’s important to you?
Because their music made the core of my music style.
What do you hate right now?
Politics here.
What do you love right now?
Feeling the cold of winter.
What comes next in the Motohiro Nakashima story?
I’m going to prepare for the next album. I'm not sure when that will be. It could be done right away, or it could take 12 years again. All I know for sure is that I will continue to write songs.
Is there any new music you’re enjoying from 2021?
“Shore” Fleet Foxes
“Dreams Come True” Judee Sill
“Reflection Overdrive” CRYSTAL
“See-Through” Kumi Takahara
“If I Could Only Remember My Name” David Crosby
“Hey What” Low
“Whatever It Is” Hello Forever
“Bird Ambience” Masayoshi Fujita
“Paper Castle” Alice Phoebe Lou
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
It would be nice if we could live lightly in response to change, instead of waiting and hoping that things will return to normal. That's how humanity has been doing it until now.