「Another Name」

With 2013’s Overturn the Doom, BRIDEAR established an aggressive hard-driving style that was surprisingly accessible. While continuing to work in this vein on subsequent releases, the band, then composed of charismatic vocalist Kimi, inventive guitarists/songwriters Mitsuru and Misa, funky bassist Haru and frenetic drummer Kai, added elements of hard-core and djent to broaden their sonic space. The primary drivers behind these experiments were Mitsuru and Misa, who have since left BRIDEAR. Both were willing to step outside the traditional rock paradigm by using songwriting elements that would not be out of place in the world of classical music.

“Another Name” from the EP Overturn the Doom is an example of how Mitsuru used some nifty tricks to create a complex, aurally fascinating work. Mitsuru applies subtle modifications to the traditional verse and chorus structure that are surprising and interesting. She also employs sophisticated changes in musical key to shift the narrative in ways that would be worthy of a classical composer.

「1」

With their instruments tuned half a step down, the track begins with a complex but driving riff that the listener hears as the key of A Flat Minor (A Flat Aeolian Mode). An on-line music theory course published by Western Michigan University (https://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/courses/keys.html) cites a 19^th century German music scholar named Christian Schubart who describes A Flat Minor as “heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament; difficult struggle.” That is perfect for the sentiments of “Another Name,” a dark song of lost love.

Mitsuru plays this quick opening riff twice, with the second iteration slightly different from the first – notable for its difficulty to play with precision. Misa joins in after five seconds, doubling Mitsuru’s riff. The riff never resolves to the tonic. This keeps the listener in suspense, prior to Kimi singing “Bright and dark/Koyoi minimatou.” Kimi’s voice, as always, absolutely insists that you listen to her. You are eavesdropping on the brutal and raw emotions of a woman who blames herself for the end of a relationship.

「2」

After the second verse, the listener expects the chorus. Indeed, the song enters a new phase. The melody shifts; the buzzing guitar figure stops. Power chords begin to accent the lyrics. But this is a fake out. This is not the chorus, but a pre-chorus. Suddenly, the drummer Kai signals the briefest of hard stops with the snare drum, and the true chorus begins with Kimi singing “I hate myself for losing you/I want to escape from another name.”

The true brilliance of Mitsuru’s craftsmanship is that this chorus is not in A Flat Minor, but A Flat Major. The tonic note is the same, but the character of the music is completely different. An element of hope is introduced with the introduction of the major key. And while the expectation is that a major key will be joyful and upbeat, that may not actually be the case. In fact, the key of A Flat Major is described by Schubart as “Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius.”

「3」

Think about that for a minute. From the beginning of “Another Name” through the pre-chorus, the listener is in a minor key world of concern. With the introduction of the major key chorus, the song seems to take on a lighter mood, but this lighter mood is actually expressed in what a musical scholar has described as “key of the grave.” Hope exists, but the listener should not get those hopes too high – not just yet. And while many songs in popular music from Broadway to jazz to rock use key changes to dramatic effect, not as many make use of changes from the minor key to major key (and back again) to highlight the conflict of emotions being expressed by the singer.

This is jaw-dropping musical sophistication in any song. Mitsuru was undoubtedly unaware of Herr Schubart’s Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806) from which the descriptions of musical keys is taken. Nevertheless, she made affective sonic choices that perfectly capture the song’s emotions in a way that Schubart believed any listener would innately feel. Mitsuru’s affective choices are indeed effective and capture perfectly the despair, urgency and hope embedded in the lyrics and expressed by Kimi’s emotive voice.

「4」

But Mitsuru isn’t done playing her tricks just yet.

Following the chorus, Mitsuru plays a blazing solo, still in A Flat Major. The second guitarist (Misa on the studio recording and Misaki on the live DVD Marcasite: Live at Shibuya Rex) joins the solo midway through and seizes control of the solo by modulating back to A Flat Minor. Mitsuru gives up on her major key excursion and rejoins Misa/Misaki in the minor key. They then drive us into a reprise of the minor key pre-chorus. Another moment of brilliance ensues. Where we might expect a bridge, we instead get the musical equivalent of a hard stop. Kimi begins singing the major key chorus, but at half tempo and accompanied only by piano and bassist Haru (who is especially effective on the live version of the song on Marcasite).

Kimi truly shines on this pseudo-bridge, using slight catches in her voice and the briefest of gasps to drive home her feelings of desperation. The rest of the band, led by the brilliant drummer Kai, aren’t having it. When Kimi sings “Kanashii koro ni,” they begin to hit Kimi with a series of punishing accents, primarily in triplets, that force her to pick up the tempo. With a last anguished falsetto on the final two syllables of the word “setsunakute,” Kimi joins the rest of the band at full tempo to finish this section, before entering into a full speed reprise of the chorus.

「5」

Mitsuru makes yet another surprising musical choice for the conclusion of “Another Name.” Instead of another guitar solo to drive the song home, the guitarists return without modulation following Kimi’s final despairing note to the edgy minor key opening figure, suddenly returning from A Flat Major back into the minor key. They repeat the figure for about 30 seconds before ending mid-phrase, again with no resolution (on the studio track) to the expected tonic A Flat note.

This is simply brilliant. Mitsuru has perfectly captured subtle changes in the narrator’s emotions with her clever construction of the structure of “Another Name.” Mitsuru’s creative structure and elegant use of the major and minor keys drive home the complexity of the emotions that Kimi expresses in her emotional delivery. The listener is never quite sure what to feel, but becomes increasingly more engaged as the song cycles through its changing moods. All in no more, no less, than three minutes and fifty seconds.

“Another Name” demonstrates why BRIDEAR has been one of the most interesting of the current generation of Japanese bands. Their creative songwriting helped them carve out a unique sonic space in the world of Japanese rock and metal. They never stand in one place for too long. They continually experiment with harsh vocals, unusual sound effects and innovative song structures. New members Misaki and Ayumi have reinvigorated the band’s sound.

「Present Day」

More recently, BRIDEAR, like many bands around the world, has cancelled concert tours because of the coronavirus pandemic. BRIDEAR have begun releasing cover versions on YouTube of songs by bands that have influenced them, such as SKE48 and Jann Da Arc. These performances are remarkable for how BRIDEAR makes the songs truly their own. One can’t say enough about the spectacular vocals of Kimi. BRIDEAR’s recent live streaming concert was another example of how great BRIDEAR remains, despite having three new members.

It is unclear what projects Mitsuru and Misa are working on since their departures from BRIDEAR. Regardless, both were major contributors to a wildly compelling and impressively sophisticated musical world that will hopefully continue to surprise and delight fans around the world.

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