Spotify Wrapped was a thing that happened. And whilst everyone seemed to agree that it was kinda dumb and pointless, it was still really fun to do, especially since I just got Spotify this year. And my top song surprised me. I’d expected it to be Ore no Kanojo by Utada Hikaru, which grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go. Instead, it was The Garden of Everything by Steve Conte and Maaya Sakamoto. Which…was certainly unexpected. I mean, I liked the song, but more than Ore no Kanojo…hmmm, well, I don’t know. I listened to it because I loved Maaya Sakamoto’s work in Escaflowne. I mean, I’ve not even watched Rahxephon.
But I’ve been listening to it more, and it really is sublime. It’s gentle. I’ve tried to contextualize it, but it’s neither Rahxephon’s opening theme nor the ending theme. Where would you put a song like this? I’m curious, but not curious enough to watch the show. Anyways, I don’t need to do that to enjoy the song. But then I read the lyrics and I think, what on earth is going on in the story to inspire these words?
The mirror melts
I’m somewhere else
Inside eternity
Where you on
Outstretched wings
Sing within
The Garden of Everything
Where memories
Call to me
Backward dreams?
Or phantom reality?
It’s poetry. Conte sings these words and Sakamoto accents them, but in the chorus, facing each other, they meet across the distance of language to sing together.
And so here we are
Lovers of Lost Dimensions
Burning supernovas of all sound and sight
Every touch, a temptation
And for every sense, a sensation
歌は 今風に乗って
遥か遠い あなたのもとへ
いつか空は ひとつに繋がら
渡っていける あなたのもとへ
And working a cleaning shift in the evenings, alone with my music, these words stuck in me, for some reason:
As rivers reach the sea
You’ll reach me
With songs of your symmetry
“Songs of your symmetry”. Symmetry. An unexpected choice, but what other word is there to describe finding the half that makes you whole? Who is singing this song? What roles are Conte and Sakamoto playing? What does it have to do with the waif in the orange dress, and the winged knight?
Oh, this is just pretentious and silly. But then again, I am pretentious and silly. Maybe I’ll watch Rahxephon one day, if only to find the mystery of these words.
Catch a Falling Star 