WATCHMANが長年の活動拠点である東京から2018年に故郷の旭川へ戻り、全くゼロの状態から立て直し、4年かけてレコーディングからマスタリングまで自己完結できる制作環境とスキルを身に付け、長年の夢だった鍵盤打楽器群を揃えるなど、WATCHMANの新作とThe Sleepwalkの活動再開への準備は着々と進めてきました。

2010年代後半は特にTVアニメを中心とした楽曲制作に専念していた事もあり、自身の創作活動を封印してきました。ここまで来るのに本当に長い時間を要し、とても険しい道のりでしたが、それに見合う経験と創作意欲が蓄積された音楽を今ようやく実現できている実感があり、自分のやりたい事ができる制作環境が整いました。

また、新たなゲストヴォーカルとしてChikageの参加が決まった事がThe Sleepwalk再始動の大きな引き金となり、2022年から急ピッチで制作を進めてきました。15年の活動休止期間中もいつ再始動するかを常に考えてきましたが、その準備を進める中、去年ようやくそのタイミングが訪れたのを実感し、このユニットの総仕上げとも言える制作に本腰を入れて取り掛かっている最中です。

今作は完全な自主制作盤として、旧来の通信販売の形を取らせて頂きました。宣伝は自分発信のみでサブスクも行わない方針ですが、本当にこの音楽を求めている人の元へ届いて欲しいという願いも込めて、これまで通り受注を受けてから自らパッケージし、郵便局へ出向いて世界各地へCD-Rを発送し、WAVデータを送信し、ライブ会場で販売致します。

正式なニューアルバム発売時には世間一般にも広く認知されるような戦略と売り方で展開していく方向で考えております。それまでの間、期間限定ではありますが、一足先に”Terra”を楽しんで頂けたらと思います。

WATCHMAN (2023/6/6)

WATCHMAN's first split sound source in 7 years, and The Sleepwalk's first split sound source in 15 years, "Terra", will be released in 2023. (scheduled to be released in 2020), it is the latest work for a limited time containing 5 songs including new songsrecorded respectively.

In 2018, WATCHMAN returned to his hometown of Asahikawa from Tokyo, where he had been active for many years, and rebuilt from scratch. We have been steadily preparing for WATCHMAN's new work and The Sleepwalk's resumption of activities, such as arranging a group of percussion instruments.

In the latter half of the 2010s, he focused on producing music, especially for TV animation, and has sealed off his own creative activities. It took me a really long time to get to this point, andit was a very rough road, but now I feel like I've finally been able to create music with the accumulated experience and creative motivation to match that, and I have a production environment where I can do what I want to do. I'm ready.

In addition, the participation of Chikage as a new guest vocalist was a major trigger for the restart of The Sleepwalk, and production has been progressing at a rapid pace since 2022. During the 15-year hiatus, I was always thinking about when to restart, but as I was preparing for it, I realized last year that the timing had finally come, and I was really committed to the final production of this unit. I am in the process of putting it in and working on it.

This work is a completely self-produced board, and we have taken the form of conventional mail-order sales. My policy is to only advertise by myself and not to subscribe, but with the hope that this music will reach those who really want it, I will package it myself after receiving an order as before, and go to the postoffice. We will ship the CD-R to all over the world, send the WAV data, and sell it at the live venue.
At the time of the official release of the new album, we are thinking about developing a strategy and sales method that will be widely recognized by the general public. Until then, it's a limited time offer, but I hope you'll be able to enjoy "Terra" one step ahead. I’ｍ sorry for the poor English!

WATCHMAN (June 6, 2023)

=> shop "Terra"