Firstly, to make things clear, this is not about comparing how good their old stuff is and how "lame" their latest albums have been. We've had such discussion tons of times and it's only led to pointless yapping.

What I wanna talk about is the band's evolution in terms of maturity. And when I say maturity, I mean the complexity of their music, the will to experiment and certain similar aspects. Usually, most long-lasting bands tend to undergo a "diverging" attitude towards their music as they grow older. They try to add new elements to their songs, experiment with various genres and attain a different approach to production. In other words, not only do they try to make something different from what they've been doing, but they also divulge a sense of evolution in terms of musicality. As if, all those years of making music has made them even more accomplished, qualified and skillful musicians.

I don't see this in the pillows. In fact, I see the complete opposite. Their 90s stuff, starting from Pantomime and until, say, Penalty Life, was an array of innovative attempts at making music that generated a series of outstanding records. Even My Foot itself, despite being rather generic, contains innovative elements such as the "twin guitar" concept. But the last 7-8 years have been quite bland in such perspective.

What do you think has led to this inevolution of the band? Do you think their success got to their heads and all they think about now is making common pop songs to please the mass audience? Or do you think the fact of releasing an album nearly every year has dried their creative capacity?

This is a topic I'm very curious about, which I've pondered over many times. So please, feel free to contribute.

I see their "maturity/complexity" peak between Living Field and Little Busters. These are albums that reward the listener for careful attention and re-listening, whereas some of the newer stuff has all of its [i]IMPACT[/i] right up front.

I'd note, though, that I consider these three albums PLUS the stretch of albums after (Runner's High - TYMT) to be the pillows' best work, so I'm not [i]necessarily[/i] equating maximum maturity/complexity with quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNBr8-3ECPw

Not how they see it.

I think it's the fact that they're finally mainstream. The combination of FLCL here and their move to a division of a pop super-label that promotes them like mad have driven this. The band is reveling in their newfound success, their sales are through the roof and have been since Wake up x3. And now that there's a gigantic following, the music revolves around what those fans want. I believe that the fanbase now mostly consists of people who started listening to the pillows right after My Foot, at the latest.

The other theories just don't hold water with me. That they would be tired after one album after another makes sense on the first look, but then I look back and remember that they've been doing this for their entire career, and they did just fine. I think that they still have creative potential, especially Sawao, but I don't know what's going on with him. I would actually be happy to see him pursue more solo work, because it would be a good indicator of where he is in terms of creativity and songwriting, and since he writes virtually everything the band plays, it may be a good measuring tool to use to determine where the pillows are headed to in the future. And it's hard to say that they've settled in on a formula, either because structurally, their songs follow the same trend almost all the way through with very few exceptions(verse, chorus, verse, Manabe solo, chorus/finishing verses).

I am not sure I agree with the initial premise of "maturity" in the first place - neither that "experimentation/complexity = maturity" nor that bands tend to improve in experimentation/complexity as they grow older. I think you're just sort of making stuff up there.

Of course, I can agree that the pillows almost certainly have not.

Sawao takes an interesting approach to his goals in writing songs, I'll have a lot to say about it as I read more interviews, but basically since My Foot he's been aiming at "combining pop, alternative, and rock'n'roll" together.

[quote="Marekenshin"]Sawao takes an interesting approach to his goals in writing songs, I'll have a lot to say about it as I read more interviews, but basically since My Foot he's been aiming at "combining pop, alternative, and rock'n'roll" together.[/quote]

Since [i]My Foot[/i]? You mean since always?

As in he made it a specific goal that he kept in mind as he wrote the music starting at that point. You know, exactly what my post said.

So before that it just happened accidentally? I see.

Maybe it is interesting to ask: by what/who is Sawao influenced now?

Because, you can quite easy point out on which album he was influenced by Simon and Garfunkel,
,when he was mainly influenced by the beatles and when he became influenced by the alternative rock scene in America: the pixies, Breeders, Nirvana. Earliest work was influenced by the The Jam, The Smiths. You also find tracks leading to the Cure.

So what is Sawao's influence on the latest albums? Metric? =P
Or has he finally found something like his own style, which ironically is a quite general style + the pillows song structure formula.

[quote]Maybe it is interesting to ask: by what/who is Sawao influenced now?[/quote]

Sheet metal production.

[quote="Ashinow"]Maybe it is interesting to ask: by what/who is Sawao influenced now?[/quote]
[img]http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/yen.jpg[/img]

Fukuzawa Yukichi? Doubt it.

So. . .
Selling out?

[quote]To compromise one's values and/or aristic vision in order to gain fame and/or monetary profit.[/quote]

or

[quote]A band has “sold out” when their fans no longer get feel like part of an elite clique. This generally happens when a band attracts interest from a major label, who provides them with a higher recording budget, which results in just enough polish to make the band acceptable to a slightly wider audience; unfortunately, the better production generally reveals the band’s basic lack of musical talent, which hipsters could previously not see because it was hidden behind a blurry cloud of “lo-fi.”.[/quote]

I wouldn't say "lack of musical talent" , rather "lack of originality/creativity (at their current state)"
oh, btw, if you don't get it. This is the part where we should all go crazy because we acknowledge that our favorite band, the pillows, are selling out.

[quote="Ashinow"]Metric[/quote]

It would be pretty sweet if Sawao actually took some hints from Metric. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_DOQ1hlneA