Melody of Second Year
- Hundred Steps (Nomal) (4:17)
- Bizarre Love Triangle (3:18)
- Itsumo No Komithi De (3:45)
- Hope (5:59)
Now on Streaming
Lyrics
Hundred Steps (Nomal)
ふわふわと漂う もの言いたげなやつ まるで昨日を損なうように 見えないとこで見えないとこの ざわめきを今感じている 正しい事 正しい事をしたい 正しい人 正しい人でいたい くらくらと瞬く あるべきな姿 たぶん今日が 始まりの日 見えないとこで 見えないとこの ざわめきの音を感じている 正しい事 正しい事をしたい 正しい人 正しい人でいたい ぐらぐらと移ろう 固めかけた未来を 忘れてたあの日のように 見えないとこで見えないとこの ざわめきはまだ感じている 少しずつ形を変える 正しい事 正しい事をしたい 正しい人 正しい人でいたい 捨ててしまえ 見せかけの時間 捨ててしまえ 錆び出した風景 とどまっては正しい事をしたい 正しい人 正しい人でいたい — Japanese reworked version for "Normalize", written later
Bizarre Love Triangle
New Order cover song written by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert From the album “Brotherhood” (1986)
Itsumo No Komithi De
Michiyo Azusa, Yasuo Tanabe cover song written by Rokusuke Ei, Hachidai Nakamura
Hope
Instrumental
Intro
“Melody of Second Year” is an EP by otom, released on November 15, 2006, and stands as one of his more unusual early works. While all tracks are acoustic, the sound carries a quiet, slightly experimental mood. Following the flow of his third full-length album “Hereafter” (2006), it moves toward a more direct sound, leaving its fragile and unfinished feel as it is. Alongside two cover songs—by New Order and the duo Hachidai Nakamura and Rokusuke Ei—it also includes the piano-only instrumental “Hope.” With its simple form, the EP shows another side of otom in a quiet way.
Note
The four tracks on “Melody of Second Year” are arranged not to reach a finished form, but to hold sounds as they are, still in the middle of becoming. It opens with a song that was imagined in another shape, now appearing in its simplest form as a solo performance, and then moves quietly toward covers that keep only the core of the originals, and a piano piece without words. Sounds with different origins gather in the same quiet place, and what lives here is not so much a polished work, but something close to the warmth and slight shake of sound at the moment it is born.
1. Hundred Steps (Normal)
Written in the spring of 2006, this song was first imagined with drums, bass, and electric guitar, in a shoegaze/dream pop style. Before that full version took shape, this EP includes a simple solo version, played and sung with acoustic guitar.
The song remained unreleased for many years. In 2018, it was rebuilt from the original idea, given the new title “Normalize”, and released as a single.
2. Bizarre Love Triangle
A cover of New Order’s 1986 classic “Bizarre Love Triangle”. The version on this EP is a solo performance with acoustic guitar, stripped down to the bare outline of the original melody and rhythm. In contrast to the synths and beats of the source song, its quiet and fragile sound brings out the strength of the song itself. At the end, the performance is played in reverse, like a small piece of tape sound, leaving a soft trace as it fades.
In 2018, this song was developed into a shoegaze version built around noise loops and guitar, highlighting the original’s strong rhythm and reshaping it into a completely different mood. It was released alongside the single “Normalize”.
3. Itsumo No Komichi De
A solo cover of “Itsumo No Komichi De”, a song from 1963, written by Hachidai Nakamura and Rokusuke Ei, and sung by Michiyo Azusa and Yasuo Tanabe. While keeping the gentle feeling of the original, this version adds record noise and rough EQ, intentionally “dirtying” the sound itself. The mix of a simple melody and an experimental touch shows otom’s playful side, and the track becomes a clear symbol of the slightly twisted mood that runs through the whole EP.
4. Hope
A piano instrumental lasting about six minutes. It opens with a quiet, gentle melody that recalls Arvo Pärt’s “Spiegel im Spiegel”, and in the middle, stronger phrases appear, as if emotion is slowly rising. The piece is shaped with clear changes in volume and mood, letting time and feeling move forward within a small number of notes. Its slightly rough sound and open space are part of its character, and, like the other tracks on the EP, it reflects otom’s way of valuing each moment over a perfectly finished form.
Outro
“Melody of Second Year” brings together a fragile, unsteady mood built around acoustic sound. Its way of valuing the feel of things in between, rather than a finished form, makes it a slightly unusual work in otom’s catalog. Enjoy.
“Melody of Second Year” is available on Bandcamp, with high-quality versions available for purchase.
