"Shiosai RADIO" is a playlist curated by musicians and DJs, featuring songs inspired by the ocean.

Volume 6 features Ojima Sairi, also known as "Kumachan Seal," an artist who is active as a keyboardist in neco nemuru and Summer Eye Sound Syndicate. She has also released a cassette tape titled "Intertidal Zone," a place where land and sea switch places at low tide, in collaboration with guitarist Miyazaki Yoshinori. She has selected songs for us to share under the theme of "Sea and Light."

"The sea and light" that you see while walking or on the train

—Kumachan Seal is originally from Tanba-Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture, and currently lives in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture. I hear she lives in a place where she can walk to the sea.

Before Hiratsuka, I lived in the neighboring city of Fujisawa. Fujisawa has Enoshima, an aquarium, and a lively beach that's typical of a tourist spot. Compared to Fujisawa, Hiratsuka isn't nearly as crowded, and there are a lot of locals strolling around empty-handed or just gazing at the sea. If you walk towards the coast of Oiso, you can see a hill (Shonan-daira), a river (Hanamizugawa), and waterfowl.

Do you often go for walks?

I often go for walks. I frequently listen to music while walking along the beach, so this playlist might have served as background music for my walks.

My walks sometimes start in the evening, before sunset, and I head home when it gets dark. Other times, I decide to go to the beach because it's nighttime. I don't often go for walks in the morning, but even then, I'm amazed to see that the waves are constantly moving, 24/7.

I also heard that you collect seashells.

When I lived in Fujisawa, I used to go shell collecting all the time. I collected them like this (says, pulling out a collection case with dividers).

—Wow! You've preserved quite a variety of seashells so beautifully.

I'd like to try making shell crafts, but it's quite difficult. I bought a book on shell crafts called "Shell Zoo" (Graphic-sha), which includes a distribution map by the editor, Moto Tsunoda, showing which beaches have seashells. Mr. Tsunoda also holds exhibitions in Hayama (Kanagawa Prefecture), and when I went to see one, the sheer volume and content of his work were amazing.

—Having had such experiences with the sea, you selected songs based on the theme of "sea and light."

I often go for walks along the beach, and when I think about what I'm looking at, I realize I'm seeing the light of the sun reflecting on the sea, the sunset and twilight, the stars at night, and the moon reflected on the water. I decided to use that as the title.

When we talk about "light," we also have images of distant views, don't we? If you take the train to Odawara during the day and look at the sea, the sunlight reflecting off the water makes it truly sparkle.

I've gathered songs that I think are close to the feeling of the sparkling ocean, the rough texture of sand and gravel, and the sea at night. The playlist as a whole seems to follow a flow from daylight hours, through darkness, to the arrival of morning.

—For the first song, I've chosen "Circus Melting into the Sky" by Masahiro Sugaya.

I thought it was a really great song, so I chose it from the album "Sea Zoo." It's a calm song, but percussion comes in partway through. When you're taking a walk, your mood tends to lift, so maybe that's reflected in the song.

—The melody of the next song, COLA REN's "Heart Shape Mole," evokes a sense of Asian nostalgia.

COLA REN is a producer based in Guangzhou, China. He has visited Japan several times, performing at events such as the "FFKT" festival at the Hotel Izukyu, which offers a panoramic view of Izu Shirahama Beach, and at the West Harlem club in Kyoto.

—For the third track, "Nexus On the Beach," Roberto Musci apparently incorporates traditional techniques from non-Western music, such as those from Asia and Africa. For the fourth track, Omni Gardens' "Cool Off," the sounds of bubbling water and the repetition of minimal triplets gave me a trance-like feeling reminiscent of folk music.

I get high when I'm out for a walk... and when I'm walking along the beach, I get a lot of sunlight, so maybe that's why the "sunny feeling" naturally got incorporated into it.

—For the fifth song, I've chosen Ai Aso's "Kamitsure No Ookina Mizutamari".

This song evokes the image of a sea getting darker. I think I chose it because, as the sea darkens, I like to listen to a soft female voice.

—For the eighth track, "Onde Cosmique," Vague Imaginaires is a French artist whose name translates to "Waves of Imagination" in Japanese.

Wow! I chose it without knowing that, simply because it sounded like the "night sea," but sound really does express things well, doesn't it? The polyphony (multiple different melodies progressing simultaneously) also gives it a wave-like feel. This also evokes the image of a dark sea.

The ninth track, produced by African-American Sound Recording, evokes the image of a rainy night at sea.

I also liked the title of this song, "returning the situation on its side"...it means something like "turning over," right? When it gets dark, even when I'm walking along the beach, I tend to become introspective, so I think I chose this song because I didn't want to spoil that feeling.

—The next song is "Sprouting Symphony" by Susumu Yokota.

I often listen to Susumu Yokota's music when I go for walks, and this song was a must-listen. From this point onwards, it feels like morning is approaching and the sky is getting brighter.

—The last song, Yo La Tengo's "Little Eyes," is a refreshing song that evokes memories of youth.

This song is on the album "Summer Sun," which I own the CD of and have listened to often. The disc has a picture of a beach ball on it, so it strongly evokes the image of the sea. It also gives me the feeling of coming home in the morning from Enoshima's "Oppara" (a long-established club with a panoramic view of the sea).

—Finally, a message to our listeners: What kind of image should we have in mind when listening to this playlist?

You know those little bottles of sand you buy as souvenirs? They really give you a feeling of the ocean, and I think that's the kind of vibe I'm going for. Not everyone can go to the beach whenever they want, so I created this playlist hoping it could be like an "instant ocean" experience.

—Everyone, please enjoy the playlist. Thank you for today!

TRACKLIST

Masahiro Sugaya – Circus Melting into the Sky
COLA REN – Heart Shape Mole
Roberto Musci – Nexus On the Beach
Omni Gardens – Cool Off
Ai Aso – Kamitsure No Ookina Mizutamari
Park Bird – First Step
Interior Soundscapes – Swimming Between the Sheets
Vague Imaginaires – Onde Cosmique
African-American Sound Recording – returning the situation on its side
Susumu Yokota – Sprouting Symphony
Taylor Deupree – air
Laurie Torres – Carnets
aus & The Humble Bee – Below the Surface We Shimmer and Shine
Yo La Tengo – Little Eyes

Profile

Bear stickers

Born in Tanba-Sasayama City in 1987. Currently resides in Hiratsuka City.
This is the solo project of "Ojima Sairi," who is active as the keyboardist for CASIO Turkish Hot Springs, neco nemuru, and summer eye soundsyndicate.
In 2017, "Morning and Lunch Combination" was released as the first cassette by hoge tapes.
In 2020, they released their 1st EP "Takitaki," and in 2021, their 2nd EP "Manimani," both on Bandcamp.
In 2023, their 1st album, "Kumachan Seal," was released by EM Records.
In 2025, "Intertidal Zone," a collaboration with Yoshinori Miyazaki, guitarist of the hatch, was released on cassette tape as background music for HoiPoi, an alternative space in Koenji.

IG: @sairipkny

Interview and text by Hanazawa Ou
Illustration by Oki Masahide