Alive by Siinamota | Album Review
The last album produced, written and arranged by Siinamota shows a deeply wounded individual who persisted despite all odds
TW: light themes of suicide
Vocaloid was the rage of the 2000s. Still is. A wide movement. I never imagined a vocal synthesizer of a voice actor or voice actress would ever exist, not to talk of it being incorporated in music production!
Origins
It all started off with the Yamaha corporation and Kenmochi Hideki. Together they jointly explored the concept of vocal synthesization, and thus a software was born. Different vocal banks were included, the most popular being Hatsune Miku, who is known for her versatility in vocal range. Producers of the internet saw this as a goldmine, and took advantage of the opportunity. They didn’t have to ask for collaborations from other artists; they had a “singer in a box”.
Although vocaloid nowadays tends to be labeled as pretty sad or “EMO” when it comes to lyrical structure, there are quite a number of musicians who write upbeat and friendly songs.
Siinamota was a bit different.
I guess I’m just understating what his songs do sound like. Battling with clinical depression, he used music as a tool to vent about his inner frustrations, fears and doubts concerning the true meaning of childhood. Like a Japanese Peter Pan, if you will.
The album Alive opens a window into his mind, and with the aid of vocaloids Kagamine Rin and GUMI, his own vocals (and Hatsune Miku in previous discographies), we see the troubling world he visualizes, his feelings and self deprecating loneliness.
My favourite tracks (in no particular order) are as follows:
- Goodbye Everyone (also popular in the Vocaloid community to a moderate level, but feels scary considering the oxymoronic format the song embodies)
- Young Girl A (the song you probably found on TikTok. Thanks, Gen Z.)
- Alive Conscious (heavily underrated)
- I am
- 9 to 0 (which has heavy retro 8-bit instrumentation)
- Apocalypse for all (minimal EDM and indie rock influence fuse together on this track)
Some months after this album dropped, his label U/M/A/A announced his death via their website stating his death happened under unknown circumstances, but it is largely believed to be suicide.
To conclude this article I would like to extract a comment from Youtube by a user named Serabiibot which says:
Some say that once a suicidal person gains the resolution to take their own life (e.g planning the exact day, buying any needed supplies, finishing up any affairs on Earth, giving away possessions, etc), they feel a sense of elation, happiness, sort of being at peace. Like they finally have something to look forward to in life. Considering that this is one of Powapowa-p’s happiest sounding (in terms of instrumentals) songs, and the pv is colourful and has confetti, usually a sign of celebration…
His posthumous album, ‘‘Therefore’’, was finalized, released and produced through a Kickstarter funding. I’ll make sure to review that one too.
Conclusion
This deserves a 8.9 out of 10. He was a bright man who never stayed away from sensitive topics like mental health. I wish he was still alive. I’m happy that some internet users are discovering his work and paying respects to him.
