Shinji Shibayama on Hallelujahs

"All the vocals on this album were recorded in one take. Even on tracks where we added some overdubbing or on the multi-tracked ones like the final track “Wish”, everything began with someone singing while playing the guitar. I wanted to preserve the sound of the voice as it was when the tape first rolled. Not because I was confident about the crude songs I had written–I wasn’t at all. But I stuck stubbornly to my guns because at the time I thought that re-recording the vocals would destroy something important in the songs. I ended up exposing my own naivety with that choice, but I still believe it wasn’t a bad one since it was my truth back then.

When we came to release the LP, I didn’t have enough songs, so I asked Zushi and Watanabe who played on the sessions to contribute one song each. The agreement was that they would sing the songs themselves and I would play whatever kind of guitar solo I wanted. The two tracks in questions are “Hallelujah” and “Christmas Out of Season”. I took the name of the band from the title of Zushi’s song.

Neither Zushi nor Watanabe nor I would ever sing again the way we sang on this album. This was the only time we were ever capable of singing in this way. It comes with a feeling of discomfort like that you experience when you hear your voice on tape for the very first time, but now that twelve years have passed, the tiniest sliver of sentimentality has also started to appear.

We pressed three hundred copies and when they finally sold out several years later, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Then, by some strange twist of fate, it was reissued into the world once again.

The one thing I can say with any confidence is that all those who played on the record possess extraordinary talents. If you (who hold this record in your hand now) ever come across their names, please investigate further. And I am not just talking about their musical talent. But many of you know this already without any further comment from me."