Fishmans

Last substantive revision: 2015-10-29

I think it’s rare for me to like an artist so much, and hasn’t really happened for any Japanese band (indeed, I don’t know many Japanese bands I like at all, but that’s mostly a fault of my lack of exploration). I like this review of 空中キャンプ a lot: フィッシュマンズ『空中キャンプ』 - 音楽だいすきクラブ. Indeed, when one starts thinking of “日常の「無意味さ」”, it does become apparent that Fishmans has quite a lot in common with the novels of Murakami, although it’s not clear to me why Murakami is much more popular in Japan and the rest of the world than, say, Fishmans. In terms of the expression of this emotion, I don’t think Fishmans is any worse. There might be the point that Fishmans tends to leave things rather vague, whereas Murakami definitely describes a lot of interactions (especially those relating to sex and relationships) in detail. But accomplishing this in lyric form seems especially difficult.

One thing I’ve always noticed peculiar are the characters that keep appearing in Fishmans lyrics. Bob Dylan too notably introduces many characters in each of his songs (just listen to “Visions of Johanna” or “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream”, to give two examples). But in Fishmans (possibly like in Kafka) the characters are never given names, and only referred to in general terms like “子供”, “犬”, “暇人主”, and of course “僕” and “君”.

Another thing many have noted is the focus on simple vocabulary (shared by Murakami). It is indeed remarkable that Fishmans can express so much with such a simple vocabulary (although note too that they get to sing the words, as well as add instrumentation, which adds more depth to the feelings expressed, despite the deceptively simple words).

I also particularly like the attention Fishmans once received on a 2channel thread: フィッシュマンズよりいいバンドって世界にいるの?


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