Shiosai RADIO is a playlist featuring music selected by musicians and DJs to evoke the image of the sea.

Volume 4 features singer and songwriter emamouse, who has a passionate following both domestically and internationally for her unique worldview and is expanding her activities in various fields. She selected songs based on the theme of "a journey of jumping into the ocean and diving to the deep sea," but it seems that a certain personal experience influenced the creation of the playlist.

A journey of diving into the ocean and exploring its depths.

I heard you almost drowned in the ocean.

This happened when I was in high school. I had even less common sense back then, so even though a typhoon was coming, I didn't think twice and went swimming with my friends, and I ended up drowning.

—It was subjected to the fury of nature.

I was swallowed whole by a big wave, and to put it in perspective, it felt like I was put in a washing machine and spun around and around. I remember spinning around in the ocean, unable to breathe, so I would occasionally pop my head out of the water and take a big breath, and this repeated over and over. No matter how hard I tried to swim, I was getting further away from shore, so I thought, "This is bad," when my friend called a lifeguard and they came to my rescue.

—That was a precarious situation.

The ocean is beautiful, but at the same time, it evokes a sense of awe. I created this playlist while feeling both scared and captivated by it. I couldn't go in the direction of something fun like "playing on the beach."

—What did you keep in mind when selecting songs?

I thought the ocean has many facets—it's beautiful, it's scary, it's hard to explain—so I incorporated that diversity into my song selection. The overall structure is like starting on the beach, jumping into the sea, and diving down to the deep sea. For the first song, I started with "Sous le soleil exactement," which has the words "sun" and "sea" in it, and includes the sound of waves and what sounds like seagulls.

—In your next song, "Udeyakoe no Uta," you play the guitar while singing about motifs such as clouds and "fireworks over the sea." Overall, the playlist seems to have a lot of songs that feature the guitar.

The fifth track, "Lute Suite In E Minor, BWV 996: Sarabande (JSBach)," is played by the Spanish classical guitar master Andres Segovia, and it evokes the image of a beautiful sea with coral and pretty fish. The next piece, "Canção Do Amor Ausente (Arr. for Guitar by Antonio Grande)," is also a solo guitar piece, continuing in the same vein, and these two pieces evoke a breathtakingly beautiful sea. I think the sea is a broad and simple thing, but it also has subtle nuances, and I feel that the delicate, intricate, and technically demanding guitar playing in these two pieces captures the essence of the sea.

The next track by Åreknuteknyterne also features guitar, but the overall atmosphere, including the synthesizer sounds, is dark.

The songs I've chosen so far have made me think that there must be some "tough spots" even underwater. Places with marine debris, places where sunlight doesn't reach, or places with strange deep-sea fish, for example. Squarepusher's "Big Loada (Oval Remix)" has a sound like a ship's whistle at the beginning...

—That's true. It's in there.

In the playlist, I've followed this song with several others that evoke the image of being swallowed by a wave. The 3/4 time signature of "Wasos (feat. Dengue Dengue Dengue)" isn't a monotonous 4/4 time signature, but rather feels like being swept away by a wave and spun around. Mad Zach's "Dark Street" is the kind of song where your hips move if you were dancing, and the beat is like it's spinning, and I guess I just like the feeling of being swallowed by a wave and spinning.

—I was also impressed that Elliott Smith's "Everything Means Nothing To Me" was included as the fourth track.

It's an incredibly beautiful song, but Elliott Smith was someone who chose to end his own life, and he's saying, "It all means nothing." The sea has many elements, but there's also emptiness, and maybe it's meaningless. The sea is beautiful, including its frightening aspects. I chose all the songs because I find them beautiful.

—I hope everyone enjoyed the playlist. Thank you for today!

thank you very much!

TRACKLIST

Anna Karina – Sous le soleil exactement
emamouse – Songs of Arms and Voice
Koen De Bruyne – Nude
Elliott Smith – Everything Means Nothing To Me
Andres Segovia – Lute Suite In E Minor, BWV 996: Sarabande (JSBach)
Baden Powell – Canção Do Amor Ausente (Arr. for Guitar by Antonio Grande)
Åreknuteknyterne – Untitled (Original tape)
Squarepusher – Big Loada (Oval Remix)
Susobrino – Wasos (feat. Dengue Dengue Dengue)
Max Cooper – Order From Chaos
Mad Zach – Dark Street
Boards of Canada – Sixty-ten
LUNA SEA – Rain
The Beatles – She’s Leaving Home

Profile

emamouse | Emma Mouse

Wearing a mask (designed to resemble skin), they began performing live in 2015.
She creates illustrations, comics, selfies, videos, soundtracks for fictional games, soundtracks for real-life visual novels (games), and various other types of music, all based on herself.
Emamouse is a creature that, as an aspiring architect, creates imaginary spaces and lives within them.
In recent years, as CEO and CXO of itemLabel, the company that makes plush toys called Peepy, he has been busy creating theme songs for them every day.
I also started playing guitar and a band called ZooChee4. My dream is to become a rock star.
X: https://x.com/emamouse

Interview and text by Hanazawa Ou
Illustration by Oki Masahide