Although the project started as Colin Newman's production, after hearing the last mix-down of all songs we'd recorded, there was something missing from the world which I wanted to make. French culture is special and peculiar. It is a culture where the mood of "ennui" and a certain kind of sexiness is charming. It is probably not easy for someone to internalize these characteristics of French culture unless they are already French or are French culture lovers. Sexual and fawning things such as "famme-enfant", "whisper voice like a fairy" may not have been regarded as appropriate by Colin who is British. Although I had no special aim to become that kind of singer, I thought that in essence it was also a part of me and one of the charms of SONOKO's music.
When I talked with Marc, he seemed to have the same opinion (Marc is a Belgium which belongs to the French cultural sphere). So, we decided to record the vocal part again and redo the remixes for several tracks such as "Une histoire de plage", "La Poupee Qui Fait Non" and "Cheri Cheri". At this point, the actual work was done with the Vincent Kenis.
Of course the fundamental work was done by Colin, but it was also very good for us to be able to go further and create a more delicate and deeper work in the end with joint production with Akasak Maboul. On the other hand, redoing several tracks was hard on me since I had to stay longer in Brussels (It became a long-term stay although I had come to Europe with the intention of traveling. It was my first overseas trip by myself). I also think that it was a burden for Crammed who had to put in more time and money.
But when the album was completed, Marc said "This is one of the most beautiful albums on Crammed Discs.", and everybody seemed very pleased with it. Marc is still saying it's one of his favorite albums. I think that my feeling’s as an artist respected because Marc Hollander, the owner of Crammed Discs, was a musician. In spite of all the difficulties, I was happy that my wish had finally been realized.
-- Is the woman like a Japanese doll in the album cover actually you? There is a cassette tape on the cover. Is it a "talk tape"?
Although a lot of people said that that album cover was created by CG, in fact, it is actually me (The picture of proof shown). It is quite strange for me to hear all the stories when nothing at all was done to the photo, but it is often said that this cover art creates a mysterious atmosphere which takes the record out of the real world. I think the cassette on the cover is the 2nd or the 3rd demo tape (not the first I sent). It was a pink cassette tape and I always put an angel design. The design of the cassette may have attracted people's attention. I think that such a style of presentation has been understood as one of my characteristics.
