Every person I’ve met, everything that’s happened, every encounter — I feel now that all of it has led me here. And all of it connects back to love. –– kyo (D’ERLANGER)
kyo will be turning 60 next year. More than half of his life has been spent as the vocalist of D’ERLANGER — a band he joined in 1988, disbanded with in 1990, and came back to in 2007 as if no time had passed at all. Thirty-seven years with the same band, the same passion, the same conviction. That kind of faithfulness to something doesn’t happen by accident.
When we last spoke, in 2023, I asked him whether his experience with illness had changed how he saw life. He thought about it for a moment, then said — quite simply — that it hadn’t. Not because the illness wasn’t serious. It was. But loving life wasn’t something he had learned from it. There is an album in D’ERLANGER’s catalogue called J’aime la vie — French for “I love life” — released to mark the 10th anniversary of the band’s 2007 reunion. That title predates the diagnosis by a decade.
Evermore, D’ERLANGER’s eleventh studio album, is set for release on May 22nd. It was made in the shadow of a different kind of loss. Between Rosy Moments 4D and this record, several musicians kyo had long admired passed away. A dog he loved did too. These things don’t make the news, but they settle into a person — and they settled into this album. What emerged was not a record about grief, though kyo is careful to make that distinction. It is a record about the force of feeling, about the need to leave something behind, to make sure that what mattered to you outlasts the moment.
In conversation, kyo gives the impression that this has always been what the music was for — not processing, not catharsis, but simply the most honest thing he knows how to do, pursued as fully and for as long as possible. He mentioned, almost in passing, that he doesn’t know how many more albums he has left to make. And so, this time, he decided not to save anything for later. Everything he values, everything he feels — it’s all in this record.
—Hi kyo, thank you for having me. I’m delighted to be able to talk with you about your new album Evermore, to be released on May 22nd. First and foremost, congratulations!
kyo: Thank you very much (smiles). It’s nice to see you too.
—Let’s dive right in. In 2023, you described Rosy Moments 4D as an album built around simplicity — going straight to the heart of the music. Does Evermore continue in that direction, or did you find yourself moving somewhere different this time?
kyo: We never really set out with a fixed concept when we make an album — that hasn’t changed. What also hasn’t changed is the desire to create what feels genuinely exciting to us right now, with a sound that feels right for this moment. That said, between the last album and this one, quite a lot happened. Several musicians I deeply respect passed away — more than I expected — and on a more personal level, there were farewells of another kind. I had a dog, and we had to say goodbye. Those kinds of experiences weighed heavily on me. Until now, my approach to making albums had always been about engraving each moment — capturing the present as it happens. But this time, alongside that, there was something stronger. A need to leave something behind. To make sure the feelings remain.
—I’m sorry for your losses. And, that’s a meaningful distinction — engraving a moment versus leaving something behind. Is this a sad album, then?
kyo: It’s less about sadness, and more about the intensity of feeling. There is of course a sense of loneliness woven through it — something bittersweet, like missing someone. But rather than curling inward with that grief, I think we were able to channel it into something more outward — the feelings that were given to us, the things that matter most. I wanted those to come through with force, not sorrow.
—That’s a constructive outlook.
How did the title Evermore come about? And what does the word mean to D’ERLANGER specifically?
kyo: The title came from our guitarist CIPHER — it was his idea, and I never asked him exactly what he had in mind when he suggested it. But as we worked through the album, living with everything I’ve just described — the losses, the farewells, that growing need to leave something behind — the word started to feel not just appropriate, but inevitable. In Japanese, evermore translates most simply as zutto — forever, always, continuously, without end. And that single idea seemed to reach into every corner of what we were making. The feelings that stay close to you long after a moment has passed. The love you carry for the people around you. What the members of this band mean to each other after all these years. The road that D’ERLANGER continues to walk, and the determination to keep walking it. In every sense — personal, emotional, musical — the word fit perfectly. It wasn’t chosen so much as recognized.
—That’s a beautiful way to put it.
Two years ago you told me that D’ERLANGER always wants to be on an upward slope — to never stay the same. Did making this album bring any new self-awareness? Do you feel you moved forward as an artist?
kyo: The sense of moving forward is something I feel constantly, and this album was no different. In a very tangible way, I found myself able to do things with my voice that had previously been out of reach — falsetto harmonies, certain textures and colors I could never quite access before. I suspect that has a great deal to do with having quit smoking, though that was about fifteen years ago now, so the improvement has been slow and gradual, accumulating quietly over a long time. But that’s actually what makes it meaningful. It wasn’t a decision I made one morning — today I will try this and succeed. It was more that, one day I simply noticed I could do it. The ability had arrived without announcing itself. That, to me, is where real growth lives — not in the things you force, but in the things that become possible while you weren’t watching. The band as a whole carries that same feeling. The most visible sign of it in the studio was the speed and quality of the takes. Everyone locked in with remarkable focus, remarkably quickly. I think that comes from a kind of inner clarity — when there are no loose ends in your heart, no competing thoughts pulling at you, just one true feeling you want to express, everything becomes more direct. The music finds its shape faster. I felt it so clearly that I walked into every vocal session with genuine excitement, almost like anticipation. That doesn’t always happen, and when it does, you notice.
—And the lyrics — did those come more easily this time?
kyo: Writing is never exactly easy (laughs) — I wouldn’t want it to be (smiles). But something has genuinely shifted in how I approach it. Until fairly recently, when I had a full album’s worth of songs in front of me, I would find myself managing the stories across the record — thinking, I’ve already written about this feeling in that song, so I should leave it out of this one, save it for somewhere else. It was a kind of editorial calculation, distributing the emotional weight deliberately across the tracklist. And while there’s a logic to that, I’ve moved away from it. Now, when I sit with a song — really face it, give it my full attention — whatever words arise in that encounter, those are the ones I use. Because they are the most honest. They are what that specific song, at that specific moment, asks for. So, I try not to interfere with them. I let them come as they come, without steering. It has become something close to a natural process. Not effortless, but natural. There’s a difference.
—Spontaneous, almost.
kyo: Yes (smiles). Spontaneous. Exactly that.
—I’d love to talk about the new songs now.
Is there a personal favorite — one that holds a particularly deep meaning for you, and why it’s more special than the others?
kyo: That’s a difficult question (laughs). But if I had to name the song that became the emotional core of this album for me — the one that crystallized everything I’ve been describing, that theme of leaving something behind — it would be Shin’ai (深愛), written in kanji. It means deep love, profound love. That song became the heart of the record. From the very first time I heard the demo, I was completely inside it. I couldn’t step back from it. And it was with that song, more than any other, that the thing I mentioned earlier — writing lyrics through calculation, managing what goes where — simply fell away. I heard the demo and words just came. I followed them. It was the most honest I’ve ever been in a lyric, I think. And I believe that happened because of what CIPHER put into the composition, and what every member brought to their performance. Something in their playing pierced me. Genuinely pierced me. And when something reaches you that deeply, the words find themselves.
—Shin’ai is actually my favorite off the new album along with C’est la vie. C’est la vie feels like it’s about letting go, while Shin’ai feels like it’s about a love worth holding on to, worth fighting for. Do those two feelings feel similar to you, or are they something entirely different?
kyo: I think they’re similar in a way. Though what I’m most curious about now is how they’ll feel when we play them live — because meaning is fluid. On stage, there will be a landscape in front of us. A room full of people. And I wonder how that presence will shift what those emotions mean in the moment. That’s something I’m genuinely looking forward to discovering.
— That’s a wonderful way to think about it. And speaking of C’est la vie — what does that phrase mean to you personally?
kyo: In French, C’est la vie is often used in the sense of “it can’t be helped” — that’s just how things are. I’ve heard it used that way. It can also simply be understood as “that is life”. For me, it’s closer to this: something joyful happens, something painful happens, something beautiful happens, something difficult happens — and that is life. It contains everything. The positive and the negative, all of it. It’s not resignation. It’s more like a choice — a way of receiving what comes. Not with bitterness, but with a kind of openness, almost as if you’re holding it in your arms. Even the difficult things. Even the painful ones. That’s what life is. That’s what life is about.
—I agree.
Your work has always carried a sense of love at its center — and something else alongside it, something sensual, a kind of heat. Why is love such a defining theme for you? And what is love, to you?
kyo: That’s a deep question (laughing softly). Well — next year I’ll be turning 60, and more than half of my life has been spent as a singer in this band. Over that time, I’ve met so many people, lived through so many moments. When I was younger, I used to think: I should have done things differently. Maybe someone else would have been better suited to this. But I don’t feel that way anymore. Every person I’ve met, everything that’s happened, every encounter — I feel now that all of it has led me here. And all of it connects back to love. The fact that we, as a band, have been able to create one sound together for this long — that alone is love. The staff that has been supporting us. The fans. The fact that I can stand here and sing today is because my parents gave me life. And even this moment, this conversation, you being here — that too is an encounter, a connection based on love, appreciation, collaboration. If even one of those connections had been missing, I don’t think I would exist in the same way I do now. So, for me, love isn’t simply a feeling. It’s everything that has carried me to this point. Everything that continues to move me forward. That is what love is (pauses, then laughs quietly). Sorry — is that a bit of a stretch?
—Not at all. That was a beautiful answer.
In our last interview, you told me that the voice takes precedence over words — that the same lyrics can tell an entirely different story depending on how they’re sung. Is there a song on Evermore where you feel the vocal performance most brought out the best in the music?
kyo: Honestly, that’s a question best answered by the other members — they can hear it from the outside in a way I can’t. But from where I stand, the song where I felt most emotionally present, most raw, was Kiss My Blood. And the songs where I felt I had sung exactly the landscape I had imagined — where the voice landed precisely where I intended — were Shin’ai and Wandering Star.
—What does the phrase Kiss My Blood mean to you?
kyo: It’s a strange sentence, isn’t it (laughs)? This is actually the first time I’ve revealed this — but the phrase was inspired by one of my favorite artists, Iggy Pop. He performed in Japan last year and I went to see him. The energy he brought was extraordinary. That a man of his age can still perform with that kind of force — it gave me something. A dream, almost. A genuine reminder of what’s possible. I was blown away. I hope, Kiss My Blood carries that spirit. That raw, physical aliveness. That refusal to diminish.
—Thank you for that — that’s a very special revelation. Iggy Pop is truly one of a kind.
You mentioned Wandering Star — what is that song about?
kyo: In the broadest sense — life. We never really know where we’ll end up, do we? You can set goals, make plans, draw out a clear path forward. But the older I get, the less I believe in fixed destinations. What I believe in more is the quality of the drifting itself — moving forward with openness, with a certain lightness, letting things arrive rather than forcing them. Wandering Star came from that feeling. The star doesn’t know where it’s going. It simply moves, and it keeps moving, and somewhere along the way that movement becomes its own kind of purpose. Wherever you arrive — that is your goal. Not because you aimed for it, but because you got there. I find something very freeing in that idea. And honestly, when I look back at this band — at everything we’ve been through, the years apart, the reunion, the road since then — I think that’s exactly how we’ve lived. We didn’t plan to be here. We just kept moving. And here we are.
—That’s another very insightful answer, thank you. I love that idea.
The standard edition includes You’re gonna be the one that saves me as a bonus track, placed in the middle of the album rather than at the end. What role does it play in the overall flow?
kyo: It was never meant to be the last song — that much was clear from the beginning. And if you place a bonus track at the very end of an album, it really does feel like an afterthought, something tacked on. I didn’t want that. The decision to include a song only on the standard edition came later in the process — it wasn’t part of the original design. So, when that moment arrived, the question became: How do we place this song so that it means something? So that it doesn’t just exist, but belongs? That’s how we arrived at putting it in the middle. And once it was there, something interesting happened — the album naturally divided into two stories. The simplest way I can describe it: the version without the bonus track is the purest journey. The version with it is the same journey, but you’re carrying one extra thing with you. One more tool, one more companion. The destination is the same. But what you bring along changes the experience of getting there.
—I see. I think I get it.
Among all the interviews you’ve given, is there something that was never asked but that you want to say about this album?
kyo: What matters most to me is how the people who receive it feel. Once a record leaves your hands, it stops being yours in a way — it belongs to whoever is listening. And every person who listens brings their own life to it, their own memories, their own losses, their own loves. That’s what I find most interesting about music. I can pour everything I have into a song, every specific feeling, every precise image — and what comes back from the listener will be something I never imagined. Something entirely their own. So, I don’t want to stand in the way of that by giving too much away. No preconceptions, no instructions. However you hear this album, whatever it stirs in you, whatever it means to you in this particular moment of your life — that is your answer. That is the album, for you. I’d be happy if people approached it that way. Just open, and ready to receive it.
—Do you read comments or opinions from listeners after a release?
kyo: I’m not on social media, so my connection to the audience is quite direct and simple. I receive letters at live shows. And I feel the temperature of the room during performances — the energy that comes back from the audience. That’s how it reaches me. That’s how I know.
—I was curious about something — track eight, SPs＼E5th.mdnt. It’s a very unusual title. Does it have a meaning?
kyo: Yes, that title (laughs) — that came from our drummer Tetsu. It’s his recipe, his creation entirely. And it’s meant to be read exactly as written: S, P, S, backslash, E, fifth, dot, M, D, N, T. Just as it appears. But only Tetsu knows the meaning behind it. He named it, and he’s kept the meaning to himself. There’s something a little mysterious in there — a small puzzle hidden inside the album. I think that’s part of the charm.
—Speaking of Tetsu, he also handled the artwork this time — the entire thing. How does that creative process work between you?
kyo: We don’t exchange many words when it comes to design, actually. There are no briefs, no mood boards, no long conversations about concept. When something comes back to us, it’s more of a feeling — yes, that’s it, or no, that’s not quite right. It’s instinctive rather than analytical, which I think suits us. We’ve been together long enough that a lot gets communicated without words. And this time, the cover came together remarkably smoothly — more so than usual, I’d say. Everyone looked at it and the reaction was almost unanimous, almost immediate. There was no deliberation. It just landed. Of course, inside what Tetsu created there is meaning — his feelings, things he has chosen to put there that perhaps only he fully understands. But for the rest of us in the room, the question was simply: is this cool, or isn’t it? And it was. Unquestionably. That said, when I look at it personally — beyond whether it’s cool, beyond the aesthetic — I think it expresses something quite precise about where we are as a band. The past and the future, held in the same image. Everything we’ve been, and everything we’re still moving toward. I find that quietly moving, actually. That a single image can contain all of that.
—I love its colors.
kyo: Me too, actually. That’s the part I like the most.
—This is my last question.
In our 2023 interview, you told me that your illness hadn’t fundamentally changed your outlook on life — because you had always cherished it. There is also an album called J’aime la vie, which perhaps says everything. What do you value most in life right now? And is that reflected in Evermore?
kyo: That’s a very deep question. As I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation, making this album involved losing quite a lot — more, in a way, than when I was ill myself. The passing of people I respected, people whose music shaped me, had a larger impact on me than my own diagnosis did. Because when it’s you, you can fight it, you can face it directly. But when it’s someone else, someone you admired, someone who was still creating — that lands differently. It stays with you. So, what I value most — first and above everything — is singing. Not just the act of it, but everything that surrounds it. The feeling that drives me to stand in front of a microphone, the reason I still want to. And the fact that I get to do that in this band, in D’ERLANGER, with these people who have been beside me for so long. That is not something I take for granted. Not for a single day. And while none of this comes from a negative place — I want to be clear about that — I am aware that I don’t know how many more albums I have left to make. That awareness sharpened something in me during the recording of this record. So, I made the decision that I won’t save anything for later. Whatever I’m feeling now, whatever matters to me in this moment — I want all of it in this record. No holding back, no keeping something in reserve for the next time. Everything I love, everything I value, everyone who has shaped me — I believe it’s all in this album. That said — it would be wonderful to make another ten albums after this (smiles).
—We can only hope for many more. And I very much look forward to seeing you on stage — the tour is just around the corner. Thank you so much, kyo. It was a real pleasure.
kyo: Thank you. Pleasure’s mine. And I’ll be waiting for you.
Mandah FRÉNOT
(c) VMJ
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