As I gather my thoughts on why I chose the songs you’ll hear in my latest LYL Radio mix, my mind keeps landing on this personal impression: “the power of softness.” I kept thinking of a valid criticism of the archetypal “hero’s journey.” If “Women don’t need to make the journey, they are the place that everyone is trying to get to,” as Joseph Campbell argued, what are we to make of the “heroine’s journey”? Are we supposed to place lesser value on the strengths found in the other half? I think my mix makes an argument that the best stories present the wholeness of those whose ideas are quite often left at the margins.
So, for this selection I purposely chose artists that make no bones about singing from that different but universal perspective, whose music can shapeshift into distinctly softer sounds to impress upon you the gravity of the spirit behind their music. Rather than run away from sentimentality, I thought: “why not try a little tenderness?”
As winter gives way to spring, as our natural world starts to be reborn, I kept thinking of recent experiences that have left me speechless.
It’s experiencing cherry blossom petals gently falling on the canals of Kurashiki, it’s about discovering the rolling highlands cradling Mt. Fuji, it’s about those not-so-quiet moments when we can hear birdsong hanging in the air as we wait for our better half to return. I kept thinking: some of life’s most meaningful moments are often quite delicate. Against all odds here’s another year of us crossing paths.
A Love Language (愛の言葉)
Tracklist:
Silje Nergaard – Roundabout
Amy Grant – 1974
‘Til Tuesday – Coming Up Close
Nae Yūki (裕木奈江) – 恋人たちの水平線 (Lovers’ Horizon)
Sonoko (安田園子) – Wedding With God (a Nijinski)
Zabadak (ザバダック) – サラ
Sharon Apple (シャロン・アップル) – Idol Talk
Rie Miyazawa (宮沢りえ) – I Say Hi
Miyako Kobayashi (ミヤココバヤシ) – Walk Like The Wind
Shingo Murakami (村上 信五) – Phat Tony’s Casino
Sample Battlers (サンプルバトラーズ) – おおきなくりのきのしたで 2:47
Manikyua-Dan Sepia (まにきゅあ団セピア) – 私を高くへ連れてって
Taito Zuntata (タイトー ズンタタ) – 恋のBADIYAH (JAZZ*7 MIX)
Vie Vie (ヴィヴィ) – ララは愛の言葉 (La La)