Asa-Chang & Junray Hana (2002)
As a symbol, flowers are often associated with beauty, ephemerality and transformation. The mesmerizing song “Hana” (which—surprise, surprise—means “flower” in Japanese) by the Japanese avantgarde band Asa-Chang & Junray takes this imagery further. Lyrics like “A flower no one’s seen before was blooming,” combined with the almost otherworldly spoken-word delivery immediately made me think of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (1857), a poetry collection that redefined poetic beauty by finding it in the grotesque and the transgressive.
I was not the only one who made that connection: a remix of “Hana” also plays during the ending of the anime series Les Fleurs du Mal (惡の華 / Aku no Hana). The show’s dark, introspective atmosphere evokes Baudelaire’s exploration of despair, desire and the human condition, and delves into the shadows of adolescence, guilt and existential dread.
Back to the music: Asa-Chang & Junray blend minimalism with ambient textures, creating a soundscape that is as delicate as it is disquieting. “Hana” unfolds gradually, layering percussion over ethereal tones to evoke a sense of unease and maybe even wonder. Or as one YouTube comment sums it up: “It's a creepy masterpiece, that grows into an ambient masterpiece as you get through it.”
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