Mahōgakkō

6th of December, 2024

Released on the 24th of July, Mahōgakkō, an avant-garde album by Hakushi Hasegawa, has had an iron grip on me for a few months now. My first time listening to it was spent laying on my bed with my eyes closed letting the music take my mind to all of the beautiful places it traveled to. Front-to-back listening journey.

If I were to describe the album in one word it would certainly be Turbulent. An interesting balance of gentle and melodic and the hectic and overwhelming. The way the music swells on some of the tracks, all of the booming crushing sounds paint me a picture of low-hanging rainclouds that eat up the horizon and hide the flashing lightning dancing inside of them. This feeling is especially true for me on the tracks like The Blossom and the Thunder and the latter half of恐怖の星 (KYONOFUNOHOSHI), however, on this one I also hear a parade. A huge traditional one with people marching and dancing and singing and the drums booming along the thunder. Something surreal, like the fish coming out of the water to swim through air in huge schools, circling the buildings and looming over the parade, their scales catching the lights of the celebration. Sort of a chaotic unity of nature and humanity. Thunderous, if you will.

But then there are songs that feel more like sparse rain, a few drops hammering away on the windowsill and softly tapping the leaves outside. Repeal (Tekkai), certainly is that for me. The texture in this song is definitely evocative of rain, but I’m unsure if it actually is. Another song that has definitely grown on me on multiple re-listens is 禁物 (Forbidden Thing). Might be the piano. Or maybe the metronome is adding to this rain feeling, alongside the piano. I’d say Forbidden Thing feels like a spring rain, one of those that come inn waves, maybe showering, maybe a few drops, but always giving way to the sun, if only for a brief time. Or even raining as the sun is shining. We call those “mushroom showers” where I’m from. Interesting time for taking a walk, now that I think about it. Next year.

There are many distinct moments I can point to in this album. Small things, like the i- sound bite used throughout, the out of tune string of Tekkai, “I'm so happy to be a modern man…Why only I dress like birthday party??”, “Catch me if you can” and the like. Lots of things like that that make up the work for me, something my brain gets stuck on. Honestly, with time I learned to love even the tracks many might consider “filler”, like Mahōinter (v2) and Enbami. I think they are important for the pacing. I appreciate Mahōinter (v2) being left out of the Boy’s Texture track, like a supplementary material of sorts, with it being a a little dialogue scene almost feels like an Audio Drama.

Almost went on a tangent about music listening habits here, but instead, let’s just say that over the years I have grown to appreciate the idea of albums as full curated pieces of work. Sure, you can take out your favorite songs to listen to, but you have to admit there is something special in the context the album provides. A more focused experience. But enough of that.

外, or Outside, is truly a living breathing beast of its own. A wonderful send-off to the album. I like to imagine it as being an exit point, a graduation of sorts form the Magic School. So full of air and hope, but also solemn in a way. I personally read it as a proclamation of love for the outside made by someone who in some way isn’t allowed outside. Or maybe wasn’t allowed for a long while and now finally has the opportunity to go out and take a deep breath. I am not projecting :)

Speaking of, after a few months of basically enrolling into the Magic School and listening to it front-to-back nearly daily, I got to see the First Take version of Outside. Have to say, this version really touched me, brought me to tears even. This was also the first time I read the translated lyrics for the song. My JP skills aren’t nearly high enough to comprehend much beyond 「外がだいすきだ」, so needless to say the song has been presented to me in a different light. I smiled a chuckled a few times seeing the way they have gone around the various vocalizations in the song by making the guest performers yell something out at the designated time. That was pretty good. And just overall, something about this piano arrangement really spoke to me. Pianos are a conversation for another day though.

I have to mention, that I have found out about this album through an Anthony Fantano review and it would be dishonest to say that my opinion of the album hasn’t been affected by it at least to some degree. Overall I loved it much more that Mr. Fantano, however his line about the mixing lacking, in a way that some tracks don’t sound as wide and grand as they could have, really stuck with me. I kinda see it. There is a chance I wouldn’t have noticed anything, had it not been pointed out to me, but there is a certain “lack” in the broad sound when you really listen to it. It’s not a big issue and I certainly don’t notice it most of the time, but it would be amiss not to include.

If I were to sum up all my thoughts on this album, I would say that it has definitely become one of my favorites from Hasegawa, up there with Bones of Dreams Attacked! (That one has sentimental points, maybe I’ll make a post about it another day). Mahōgakkō is a beautiful work. Works best as a complete experience, in my opinion. It puts you through this storm of emotion and music and noise. Only to send you off with this hopeful feeling, like you’ve been through something mesmerizing and confusing and will carry it with you going forwards.

Very special. I’m glad that I have the pleasure of coming back to it and reliving all the thrills and sorrows.

外は色が変わってだいすきだ。

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