By MOE KINOSHITA

Hi, I’m Moe and I am a Tokyo-based, Berlin-born hobby singer-songwriter. I have been playing music for almost my entire life now. Starting with classical piano, to singing in the Berlin State Opera children’s choir, to learning jazz and writing lyrics, music has always been the main tool for me to de-stress and release all of my pent-up energy and emotions I feel during daily life. Especially writing lyrics has given me a new outlet to reflect on myself and my surroundings, helping me get through difficult times.

The release of this EP was the first time I have ever released any of my music, so it is paired with a lot of special feelings and vulnerability as well. I have worked on these five songs for about a good year and a lot of them are about my own personal conflicts during the Corona period, as well as struggles I pick up from my friends or just society in general.

I guess being faced with a new idea of our reality, being expected to adapt to it and seeking for change at a time when the whole world seemed to be in a standstill, a lot of times I just felt frustrated, uncomfortable, and lonely.

If you’d ask me what my favorite song in this album is, I would probably pick 24th winter since both melodically and lyrically, I felt like I was able to express this state of mind in the rawest manner possible. I think throughout this whole period, not being able to live my life how I imagined to, and not having the chances I was blessed enough to have made me deeply sad on the one hand and confused on the other, since I also felt like I was a selfish person for putting myself and my problems at the center of everything that was going on.

It was actually the first winter in probably around 8 years or so that it snowed in Berlin on Christmas. I loved playing with snow when I was a kid, and admittedly still do. Yet, instead of appreciating and enjoying that, I was completely caught up in my own discomforting thoughts until I noticed that it had snowed when the snow was already gone.

As cheesy as it may sound, coming to this realization and taking time to capture this feeling really helped me acknowledge the fact that it was okay to slow down and to be unproductive sometimes. And that it was okay to distance myself from my self-expectations and the constant need to seek for self-fulfillment. I wanted to give this song an overall nostalgic feel, hence the lo-fi sounds, and a lot of ear-candy. Maybe you’ll be able to notice a few.

Since I released my music, I have gotten a lot of feedback from different people across different parts of the world and what amazes me every time is that different bits and pieces resonate to different experiences and memories. I remember I wrote Gone by 48 from the perspective of fish, trying to hint at the environmental impacts of commercial fishing. However, a lot of my friends related this song to experiences of racism, which I thought was incredibly interesting and exciting at the same time. It is this freedom of expression and interpretation that I find huge pleasure in, and the vagueness of the language that I allow myself when writing lyrics that makes songwriting an essential companion in my life (and a good counterbalance to academic writing)

. I would be more than happy if you can spare some time to listen to the album and maybe you can find some pieces that you can make your own.

You can find my music here: https://linktr.ee/chakoshi

Moe Kinoshita is a postgraduate student in the Information, Technology, and Society in Asia (ITASIA) program.

THE KOMABA TIMES ISSUE 11, APRIL 2022