Allister’s Scott Murphy and Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo have joined forces to release their self-titled debut album, “Scott & Rivers,” which is almost entirely in Japanese.
Murphy became enamoured with Japanese culture during a 2001 tour of the country and by the mid-2000’s was fluent in the language. Cuomo, similarly, is fascinated with Japanese culture; after marrying a Japanese woman eight years ago, he learned the language to better communicate with her family.
The two American artists discovered their shared affinity during a recent Weezer tour in Japan, during which Cuomo heard one of Murphy’s records and approached him for advice on how to write an album entirely in Japanese. He was in the beginning stages of learning the language at that point, and it took several more years for the album to fully come together. Cuomo and Murphy wrote and recorded together in Los Angeles and Chicago, finishing the album in early 2013.
The album is less structured than originally planned and features many different styles of music, and the Japanese lyrics may be difficult for non-native speakers to fully comprehend. But Cuomo and Murphy hope that the enduring, universal power of music will overpower whatever happens to get lost in translation.
Murphy was a devout Weezer fan growing up, and considers performing with Cuomo now a very surreal and exciting experience. Nonetheless, the two work well together. They have combined their artistic efforts to create an extraordinarily unique record that will appeal to Japanese and English-speaking audiences.
The full track listing of “Scott & Rivers” is here.
1. Break Free
2. Homely Girl
3. Freakin’ Love My Life
4. おかしいやつ
5. 朝は近い
6. 終わりのないこの詩
7. 遠く離れても
8. I Need Somebody
9. はじける
10. ほどけていたんだ
11. Butterfly
12. 君と二人で
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