Words by Anton Spice

Eiko Ishibashi’s score for Drive My Car is one of the few soundtracks I listened to compulsively before watching the film. When I eventually heard it in its rightful context, I was struck by an uncanny sense of familiarity, like a memory of something I couldn’t quite place.

The theme, developed over the course of the film, materialises as a kind of ethereal lounge jazz, constructed with long-time collaborator Jim O’Rourke, and tinged with the detached sadness of spaces passed through but not stopped in. It wells up out of nowhere and catches you when you least expect it. Perhaps it is analogous to the grief that actor Yusuke and his adopted driver Misaki are beset by, often imperceptibly, throughout the film. Grief that is unspoken, behind the eyes, surfaced and then buried in the need to just keep going.

Drive My Car is not Japanese musician Eiko Ishibashi’s first soundtrack. Nor is it the first to respond intimately to the narrative. In 2018, her album The Dream My Bones Dream traced imagined familial histories in occupied Manchuria, while 2021’s For McCoy was conceived as a loving homage to Law & Order character Jack McCoy, complete with a series of inked portraits. There is a searching restlessness to her work which can be both playful and serious, often simultaneously.

In this case, Ishibashi’s soundtrack had to find its place between the Haruki Murakami story on which the film is based and the Anton Chekhov play, Uncle Vanya, through which it is structured. Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi asked for the music to be like a landscape, mediating the relationship between characters and audience. As with her previous work, Ishibashi drew on a sensitivity for found sound, often letting the music emerge from the diegetic movements of the scene. It does not feel like a coincidence that protagonist Yusuke’s late partner is called Oto, which translates from Japanese as ‘sound’. In many respects, she is the absent core at the heart of the film, the negative space around which the other characters organise themselves.

And yet, for Ishibashi, composing is not just a way to respond to the narrative but also a way to manifest it. “I believe that when a person produces a sound, it always inhabits a story, even if the person is not conscious of it,” she writes over email. “By facing the sound you are trying to produce, you will naturally see what kind of world is expanding in your head.” In Drive My Car, her’s is a world we can inhabit too.

I really like the way the twin themes of ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘We’ll Live Through…’ evolve over the course of the film. It feels very much like the musicians are getting to know and understand the music from different perspectives. Did your ideas about the soundtrack evolve while you were working on the project?

Yes, they did. Since the music was going on at the same time the film was shooting, we had time and room to develop the music. I was able to experiment with different versions in the studio with a group of like-minded friends. I think that was very special.

Was there a particular feeling or atmosphere in the film that you wanted the soundtrack to capture?

The first thing that surprised me about the film was the strong script. I felt that it sublimated a complex story of multiple layers of loss into a universal and simple tale. When the images came up, the beauty of the images, the great acting of the actors, and the clarity and vividness of the sounds of the cars and boats came to life. I created the music with the hope that it would accentuate those images and sounds, while at the same time fitting in with the flow of the story.

How much of the soundtrack was composed and how much was improvised with the group?

The two theme songs are completely composed, but the variations were created through a process where I would start playing piano or Rhodes and the band would improvise to it. Others were improvised by me alone. It was a lot of fun working with musicians that I work with all the time, and I really appreciated that they immediately understood what kind of performance was needed for the song without having to explain in detail.

How closely did you work with director Ryusuke Hamaguchi on the musical direction for the soundtrack?

Director Hamaguchi did not give me any specific instructions. I made the music without knowing which scene it would be applied to. I liked that approach very much. The director requested that the music be dry, but that it play a role in shortening the distance between the audience and the images, and that the music be like a landscape. I think the rest was left mostly to me.

I thought that perhaps the two recurring themes of the soundtrack ('Drive My Car' & 'We’ll Live Through..') spoke to the layering of the Murakami and Chekhov narratives in the film. What function do these two sides to the soundtrack play for you?

Actually, I only thought of them as the opening theme and the ending theme when I made them. A line from Chekhov's play was used symbolically in the film, so I quoted that line as the title. I did not think about that so much while composing the music. Even if Haruki Murakami's novel is the basis of the film, the impression I got from the film was different from the impression I got from the novel, which I thought was very good. The development and freedom of the film may have been what I had in mind when making these themes.

Did you have stylistic reference points or musical influences you were drawing on?

The director asked me to create an ending theme song that would be stuck in my head, like Ennio Morricone or Henry Mancini. I thought that was a challenge, so I ignored it at first. As a result, I was not too concerned with style. The drummer I always play with in live performances and recordings, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, is a very good driver, so I wanted to ask him to play the drums. I think his drumming is a key part of the music. But I do have favourite film music composers. They are Michael Small and Jack Nitzsche. I really like their distance to their work.

Speaking of distance, I actually listened to the soundtrack before I saw the film. Did you think about it as a stand-alone piece of music as well as a piece written for this story?

When I was thinking about the songs alone, I was thinking only about the film. However, when recording with the band, I thought it would be better for the director if I recorded various versions of the song as if I were creating a soundtrack. This is because the film was still in the process of being shot or edited. When it came time to create the soundtrack, it would simply not be enough in terms of the number of songs and minutes for an album to consist purely of songs and versions used in the film, so I created it with the hope that people who had seen the film would be able to listen to this soundtrack and retrace their memories and experiences of the film.

What was it like to see the finished film for the first time?

As a viewer, I thought it was wonderful to see this kind of work coming out of Japan. I was struck by the power and craft that Mr. Hamaguchi had put into this film, so I don't remember much from the moment I saw the film until I came home. As someone involved in the film, I was glad that the music was not too memorable. I was pleased with the timing, the length, and the perfect mix of other sounds.

Your work has often engaged in environmental sounds. What draws you to making and using field recordings in your music?

I think we all do, but since childhood, I have sometimes been unsure of what the world is that I live in. I loved to listen to the radio, and when I was worried that the whole world around me was a lie, I used to make tapes as a child, mixing the sounds of the recorded radio with the sounds of the outside world. I always bring a recorder wherever I go so that I can record. It is like a sound diary. I think that recording the sounds of the world around you is like realising that you are living in the present and what is happening around you.

You are comfortable playing a range of instruments, are there any you particularly prefer to compose on or have a strong relationship to?

I don't have a preference, but when I write a song, I start with drums, piano, or synths. I think it's because it's easy to create sounds with those instruments as soon as I have an idea.

In The Dream My Bones Dream there is a very personal story behind the music. How important is narrative to your compositional process?

I believe that when a person produces a sound, it always inhabits a story, even if the person is not conscious of it. Creating an album is also a process of confronting oneself. I don't make an album by deciding on a story from the beginning. By facing the sound you are trying to produce, you will naturally see what kind of world is expanding in your head. The Dream My Bones Dream also came to me as I was creating the sound, and as I spun it out, I think it became a story.

Your musical relationship with Jim O’Rourke feels very mutually respectful. What do you enjoy about working with him? Are there things you give one another as artists that are unique to that relationship?

Jim is a very respectful person, both humanly and musically. I may have been ready for a life of making music before I met Mr. Jim, but I didn't have so much faith in myself as I did in my lack of talent. I believe that Jim's encouragement is what has allowed me to continue to express myself. Also, Jim and I are connected in some ways by our black humour. I think we have both had a bad view of the world since we were kids. I think we enjoy working together because we share a sense of humour through our music. In the course of writing songs, creating experimental works, creating soundtracks, and supporting popular artists, there are barriers that we hit in the music society. Jim and I have had the same hurtful experience of standing on such musical boundaries. He is one of the few friends I can share those things with.

You are releasing a lot of work at the moment. What kind of life does the music have for you after it is released?

Once released, I don't care much for my own work and don't listen to it at all. When I do a live show, I want to add another element and try to make the music new and fresh.

Finally, do you drive? And if so, what do you like to listen to when you are in the car?

When I drive, I only listen to Autechre.