Album Release: Your Lie in April - Music of the Heart!

I am excited to unveil my new album, "Your Lie in April - Music of the Heart"!

This was originally supposed to come out in, well, you could've guessed it, April. But I wanted to be as happy as I possibly could with this project, so here it is! It is my largest and most ambitious album yet, it covers 12 hand-picked tracks from the original soundtrack of the hit anime "Your Lie in April", and features the beautiful voice of fellow YouTube artist, xMEIYIN. It won't be coming out for another week or two to the public, so you will be the first ones to hear it, I am overjoyed to share it with you guys <3 This post also serves as a blog/update post where I wrote a bit about the album process, I  recommend you read it after listening.  And if you've never watched the anime, I highly recommend it :) Regardless, please enjoy the album and all that comes with it!

You can download the early, exclusive Patreon-only deluxe edition of Music of the Heart right here!

You can DL it as part of my discography here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/massive-update-98905690

“Maybe there's only a dark road ahead. But you still have to believe and keep going. Believe that the stars will light your path, even a little bit. Come on... Let's go on a journey!”
― Kaori Miyazono

Inspiration

Like always I use a lot of time to decide on my track selections, artwork, productions and so on. I want my albums to be my premium product of sorts. This time it was no different. I've long been a huge fan of the original anime and Masaru Yokoyama's soundtrack, so much so that I'd already covered a number of the pieces already. At this point it is one of the staples of my YouTube channel and fandom, so it was destined to have some sort of album or compilation down the line. Your Lie in April tackles topics such as friendship, love, depression, death, and how music can affect and touch these aspects through life. I wanted to create a worthy tribute to this wonderful piece of art.

Track selection and scope

While I wanted to focus on the soundtrack bit from the anime, the opening theme Hikaru Nara by Goose House is without a doubt the most iconic vocal song and OP/ED associated with the anime. It is the first and most popular vocal song, but it also has lyrics and imagery that describes and/or predicts much of the anime. I decided that I wanted to start off on that note, even though anime openings/endings often sound or feel different than most of the soundtrack pieces. It is a short but bombastic beginning to this musical journey.

The title track Your Lie in April is a beautiful leitmotif that is used throughout many songs in the anime. It was an obvious pick for the opener, or something close to it. The high, dancing notes signal the beginning of spring. Losing Heart is one of the titles that is shortened down from the original Japanese title, as the original one sounds something like "Please support me in this moment that I am about to lose heart". It features the iconic My Lie motif and introduces the somber and dark part of the story. I always been interested by how this piece dynamically stays fairly quiet and calm, but still tells a strong story. Friend A's title is an object of much confusion within the fanbase, because there is another track with Friend A in the title, and that track is more popular. Especially confusing because all the track names are in Japanese and most of them were never given officially localized names. Anyway, this is one of my favorites as it has a strong, simple melody that stands well on its own. It is Yokoyama's composition at its finest.

Again is a powerful melody that is repeated over and over, but with different iterations and additions to it. And just like it came, it disappears fast. It's used during a fleeting moment in the anime, where the main characters Kousei and Kaori decide to keep on playing on stage during a competition, even after most likely being disqualified. Presence featured on my Emotional Anime on Piano - Vol. 2 from 2019, and it is another happy and optimistic melody. Both this and the next title are also shortened down from their original titles. Feelings is basically a slowed down version of the main YLiA motif, with some extra notes added. I always found the original to be very calming and soothing. Lie and Truth's original track is actually based on the vocal song, "My Truth" by ENA, both of which can be found on Yokoyama's soundtrack. But the original Lie and Truth features piano and a violin playing the melody over it. This piece in particular was very difficult to arrange and play, not only because I was covering both the piano and the violin at the same time, but because it has fast, dynamic changes.

Colorful, the last shorted down title. This piece features an uplifting and hopeful melody, light on its feet. It  reminds me of the quote from the anime; "You exist within springtime". Spring's Melody is a track I renamed. The original translation could be "I appoint Friend A to be my accompanist", but to avoid the resemblance to the "Friend A" track and the long length, I went with Spring's Melody, which is what the track was originally known as on YouTube as the anime aired. It is a name that is often used for it, and fittingly so as the track is often used during important moments of the show, and many consider it to be the most iconic one, perhaps after My Lie. I spent a lot of work trying to recreate the uplifting and peaceful strings in the original track, I always felt like they were embracing you and lifting you up. Truly an inspiring piece of music, so I wanted to do it justice.

“Maybe...just maybe, the light can reach even the bottom of a dark ocean.”
― Arima Kousei

My cover of My Lie or "Watashi no Uso", is one of my most popular tracks on both YouTube and Spotify, it was featured on Emotional Anime on Piano - Vol. 1. For this release I tried improving it as much as I could. On the anime soundtrack it is the very last piece, and for me it symbolizes the end of the anime. The motif itself could be considered the most iconic one from the source material.

Fun fact: I tried adding string to this track, but I was not happy enough with the result to include it. Besides, I enjoy the contrast between the uplifting and full sound of the piano and strings in Spring's Melody, to the somber, lone piano in My Lie. But I might release the piano and string version one day!

After this journey through some of the anime greatest hits, I wanted to end with something different! I am lucky enough to often perform with the talented singer xMEIYIN on our channels, and together we picked out our favorite vocal song from the anime to cover together. For You is one of three vocal songs by ENA from the original soundtrack, and they all include parts of classical pieces, like Clair de Lune for this one. Your Lie in April features so much focus on classical music, so I was happy to include some of that at the same time. I created a backing track featuring piano, drums and bass, and she performed a beautiful rendition of ENA's vocals, with brand new, added harmonies. I am proud of the result! Check out xMEIYIN's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/xMeiYin

Production

How do you go from nothing to holding a finished album in your hands? I want to write more generally about this in another post, but here is some  specifics for this projects.

As always I created the arrangements through Musescore, and I recorded with my Garritan CFX piano VST in Cubase 8 Elements. It's all midi data, as I do not have an acoustic grand piano, that's my only viable option. But I used the same piano setting for all of the songs, to simulate a concert. For the strings on Spring's Melody I used Session Strings, and an ensemble of four violins and violas, and two cellos and basses. In the track For You I used Superior Drummer 3 and Shreddage Bass. For mastering I used the Ozone 8 master assistant. I decided to license it through Soundrop, my go-to licensing partner. Their model is a one-time fee of $10 per cover song, whereas other models might have you paying smaller but yearly fees.

The arrangements are always the hardest parts for me. You have to decide what kind of phrasing you want to do, what notes to use where, and so on and so on. It's a thousand choices. And then you play it and decide maybe it was better this other way. On this album I gravitated towards using the original key signatures, and for the most part the same tempos. I normally do unless there's a specific reason not to. This album in particular was the most difficult one yet, and 12 tracks (two of which were not solo piano) was a big undertaking for me! Especially For You, that required a lot of mixing work.

The Artwork

Once again I was lucky to have Phil Dragash for this album. The album cover illustrates an important scene from the anime, but I won't spoil it in case you haven't seen it. Kousei and Kaori are the the main characters of the anime so I wanted something that would showcase them and their music. Phil is incredibly talented and I am always blown away by what he comes up with. You can find more of his work linked below.

Phil Dragash:  https://www.phildragash.com/

If you didn't download the special edition yet, remember you can download it with the link at the top of the post!

Thanks for reading! Any questions or suggestions to improve these kinds of articles are welcome. Happy listening, and thank you so much for your support <3

“Music is freedom.”
– Kaori Miyazono