Sound Horizon

Sue Kim
Paul Kang
English2
14 June 2007
Blog Entry #2
Sound Horizon

Recently, Sound Horizon, a group that holds the first place in the J-pop karaoke song request list has caught my interest. It is a group of artists led by the composer and the lyric writer, or arranger, Revo. The members call themselves the 「Fantasy Orchestra」(幻想樂團). Sound Horizon has a peculiar style of gathering the members who are needed to form the orchestra in order to musically express the stories in each album. Its songs could be called “story music.” Unlike other songs where there is one story per song, the most remarkable characteristic of Sound Horizon is that the whole album is made up of a story with a theme. It uses a variety of instruments from electric guitars to the Irish harp.

There are two reasons to why I am indulged in Sound Horizon. One is because of its uniqueness. In contrast to any other songs today that have similar stories about love, its songs tell stories about the world of fantasy. Every song of Sound Horizon has its own story, but is connected to the theme of the album. In turn, each album is connected together by same characters, terms or melodies. The lyrics makes one think that she is reading a piece of literature. This means that the various symbol and implications in the lyrics can be interpreted differently. The diverse ways the stories are expressed in the songs add to the freshness one feels. The narrations, sound effects, parts that need to be played reverse are some the unique techniques. The melody too, is diverse, due to the variety of instruments and vocals. Other than its originality, the pictures on the cover of the albums, drawn by Yoko Yan, is the reason I like Sound Horizon. Because of the many stories, there are also a variety of characters which are both challenging and fun to draw.

The only task given to me now is to be careful not to be too indulged in Sound Horizon to overlook schoolwork.