FEBRUARY 2008 - When it comes to pushing the boundaries of extreme music, there are few bands that can compete with Japanese avant-metallers SIGH. For over fifteen years, this remarkable group of musicians have challenged their listeners with insanely tight compositions, sweeping orchestral arrangements, and surprises at every turn. SIGH's mastermind Mirai Kawashima took a few minutes from working on their follow up to 2007's "Hangman's Hymn" to answer a few brief questions.

Marchman: Thanks for taking a couple of minutes to answer these, Mirai.

Mirai Kawashima: I am always up for an interview!

Marchman: First off, I've been curious for some time about this: SIGH was a three-piece band up until Junichi Harashima was added for the (recently reissued) 'Gallows Gallery' album. What exactly does Junichi bring to the SIGH sound - and why was it necessary to add another member at that particular time?

MK: Well, "Gallows Gallery" was filled with up-tempo tracks, and Satoshi is not cut out for that kind of drumming while he is really good at slower, more doomy stuff. Also he's more a guitarist/bassist than a drummer and he plays bass much better than I do, so recruiting a new drummer was the best solution for us. Definitely Junichi is one of the best drummers in this style here in Japan, and as you hear the sound is much tighter and heavier with him on the drums.

Marchman: Tracks like "Me Devil" are so complex and incorporate so many different sounds all happening simultaneously. Are the songs written on acoustic guitars first and then developed from there? Do you personally add all the layers of orchestration, choirs, horns, and what is the producer's role in such instances?

MK: As I'm not a guitarist, the songs I composed are basically written in my head and on piano, not guitars. All the songs were written and arranged by ourselves, we never had a producer. I'm an educated composer and I sometimes compose music for TV shows, video games etc., so I can handle varied music from classical, jazz to metal. The songs on "Hangman's Hymn" were written mostly in the classical music way. I mean it's not like jamming with guitars to come up with riffs, but writing down melodies and giving them counterpoints, harmonies then orchestrating them etc.

Marchman: I would imagine that some of these arrangements are difficult to pull off in a live setting. Are the orchestrated organ, string, and horn segments duplicated at shows, or is it just guitar/bass/drums/vocals?

MK: Now we have the new member Mikannibal, who takes care of vocals and saxophone. Now I can handle keyboards along with vocals on stage, so we can reproduce the songs to some extent live. Obviously it's not easy at all to reproduce the full orchestration unless we play to the sampler, but that isn't something we'd like. If we played to click, the dynamism would be lost live.

Marchman: SIGH has been on three well-known labels over the last three albums, Red Stream, Century Media, and now The End. What were some of the reasons for changing labels so frequently?

Marchman: Do you feel the early albums are too difficult for fans to find and purchase? Are there plans to have these reissued any time in the near future as "Hangman's Hymn" has been?

MK: It's all up to legal matters. Cacophonous Records still claim the rights to the albums, and we've been trying to get them back, but unfortunately it hasn't worked out. They haven't paid us any money for a loooooong time, and won't us re-release it either. They're a vermin of the scene for sure.

Marchman: Your mastery of English is excellent! Song titles like "The Enlightenment Day" and "In Paradisum" show quite a depth of language mastery. Does everyone in the band speak English? Who made the decision from the beginning to sing in English and why?

MK: There are many reasons that we sing in English, Mark. Music is strictly tied with languages, and it is oblivious so-called rock/metal has a strong connection with English. English is a very rhythmic language compared to Japanese, which is much more melodic and less rhythmic. The Japanese language has no voiceless words and the intonation is more stressed than the accent. Thus, in my opinion Japanese does not fit rock/ metal music in which rhythm is very important.Also we want our fans to understand what we sing about, and we want them to sing along. That's what we did with the metal albums we loved in the 80s! Now we have more fans abroad than in Japan, so now we see less reason in singing in Japanese.

Marchman: What's next for SIGH? Will the next album be a concept record? How far along is it at this point?

MK: I've already written 4-5 tracks for the new album. Some things I can say about the album right now are:

- This won't be far from "Hangman's Hymn", but it sounds much more sinister and the songs are a bit more complicated.

- The album will be divided into two parts, the one will be called "Scenes From Hell," which will be very much sinister sounding. The other part will be more symphonic and triumphant.

- All the songs will be inspired by sinister drawings and literatures.

Well, those ideas could be scrapped if I come with another idea though!

Marchman: Very good sir! Looking forward to it!

MK: Thank you very much!

SIGH are Mirai Kawashima - vocals, keyboards, orchestration, Satoshi Fujinami - bass Shinichi Ishikawa - guitar, Junichi Harashima - drums, and Mikannibal - alto saxophone, vocals. Their latest albums "Hangman's Hymn" and the reissued "Gallows Gallery" are available through The End Records.