Tue, May 10, 2022, 10:46 AM – so many things seem improbable, but looking at this time stamp, this is one of those that will sit with me for a while. You see, it was over two years ago that I mustered up some courage to seek out Noriko Sekiguchi and see if she was interested in striking up a conversation. And now years later, we can close that circle together and look back to see just how much of her story has moved beneath us. In the end, you see, it all goes back to June 8, 2018.
It was five years ago that I published my first post about POiSON GiRL FRiEND. Looking back, I imagine that all I could think about then was this: “What’s going to happen if I don’t share Noriko’s music?”
I don’t know why but I kept going back to my copy of Melting Moment simply worrying about losing such an album to history. I mean, someone had to stick their neck out. Now in hindsight, little did I know that by sharing Melting Moment, my little mustard seed of writing would kickstart a revival and rediscovery of Noriko’s music. Now we can find Noriko’s music getting the reissue treatment and POiSON GiRL FRiEND taking new steps to perform her music and collaborate with others (all like you, rediscovering her ideas).
Noriko might not know it but much like many of you, I too had my moment resonating with her music. Back then, it was hearing in PGF’s music all sorts of influences and emotions – a certain saudade, the many hues of dance music, a new chanson, and a different feeling of personal empowerment – that I felt spoke to what I loved in music. POiSON GiRL FRiEND’s music predicted a future (even if her original audience couldn’t quite grasp what exactly that was).
What little backstory I could find of PGF, felt unique and impactful enough to plant that seed in my head to come back to Noriko. Before songs like “Hardly Ever Smile Without You” and “Fact 2” rocketed up to their 4 million plus (and growing) listens, there I was, trying to come up with words to describe the worth of unheralded, gorgeous songs to what, seemingly, felt like it was an audience of one: me. It’s what made me go back into the well of her music later and share my favorite POiSON GiRL FRiEND album, Love Me. Lord knows why but I felt I had to keep championing Noriko’s music.
To cut a long story short, all of this makes me grateful that POiSON GiRL FRiEND appreciated what I wrote about her and for extending her time by being more than kind to answer myriad questions I had about her life and career. Heck, for her to even volunteer to make a guest mix for the site, feels like icing on the cake.
In the end for us to be where we are today — getting the POiSON GiRL FRiEND story, and a feel of what influenced this music, exactly from who I always wanted to share it, still feels like an improbable dream come true. As to what happens next? Noriko can take ownership of the rest of her story…
POiSON GiRL FRiEND Interview
F/S: Can you share something about yourself? Where are you from, and what was a young Noriko like?
PGF: I was very shy when I was younger and still am a very shy person. I was born in Yokohama, Japan.
F/S: How was living in Brazil? What brought you back to Japan?
PGF: I lived in Rio de Janeiro for 3 years, in the ’70s. It was a really natural thing to me. I really loved life in Rio. My family and I lived with a Brazilian housekeeper who always looked after me—watching football on TV, cooking Brazilian cuisine, teaching me how to dance “samba”! I loved Brazil so much that when the Japanese football team came and played against Brazil, I cheered for the Brazilian team. My father worked in a Japanese bank in Brazil, and when his term ended, we returned.
F/S: At what point did you decide that music was something you wanted to make?
PGF: As a child, I learned to play the piano and violin, but I didn’t think of being a classical musician. I liked pop music such as Queen and Sparks. When I grew up, I stopped studying the piano by the time I heard British punk and new wave. I didn’t want to be a musician myself, but I liked music. So, I wanted to work as a music journalist, for example, to support the music scene. When I was in high school, a classmate asked me to perform at a student festival with a Clash cover band and perform some New Wave songs. I’d never sung in public before, so even my mother was surprised. After a few gigs, I wanted to create my own songs.
F/S: Can you describe the genesis of “POiSON GiRL FRiEND”? How did you come to create this name and the way you capitalize it? It’s very proto-internet, if you don’t mind me saying.
PGF: I have always been interested in typography and graphic design. Long before I made the “i” in POiSON GiRL FRiEND lowercase, I came up with the idea of making the “O” in nOrikO uppercase. Indeed, in retrospect, there is an affinity with internet culture.
F/S: What led you to dance music?
PGF: In the beginning, I was signed to Polydor Records as a singer-songwriter. At that time, jazz musicians arranged songs to give it a more “acoustic” sound. Due to various circumstances in the company, it was not possible to be released, and at that time, I was in London and Paris for four months. In London, I went to live houses and nightclubs almost every night to recharge myself. British clubs in 1989 were a mixture of rock and house, and I felt very inspired. As soon as I came back to Japan, I started to think that I wanted to create songs with club and dance sounds influenced by the UK. So I started making pop music using a drum machine instead of the acoustic route I had been pursuing until now.
F/S: Was there any kind of Tokyo music scene that you were tapping into or were your influences more global?
PGF: Ever since I was a child, I listened to a lot of world music. My mother sang chansons and canzones, so I think that was a big influence. I wasn’t keen on the Japanese major music scene. In the early ’90s, there were some small clubs playing techno and house music. I met some DJs who always said that they would change the Japanese music scene. We were all very young and had many ambitions.
F/S: What kind of expectations were there for you with your record label? How popular did this release become?
PGF: I had another meeting at Victor to make the second record, which would have required me to be part of a music agency. However, I wanted to be free from everything, so I looked for another label. If I had a contract with a music agency, I might have become more famous, but I wanted to create music that spontaneously comes from my heart.
F/S: Looking back, what do you think of this record, or of the tracks off it?
PGF: Talking about Melting Moment is very complicated. Victor’s A&R took an interest in my music, and I started working on a mini-album. They had no musical restrictions and let me do what I wanted. I suggested that I wanted to put strings in “Hardly Ever Smile” and asked Neko Saito to arrange it. Recording a string quartet costs a lot, but I was happy to have the budget for that.
In the early ’90s, it was popular to cover old songs with dance beats or rhythms. I covered Jane Birkin’s “Quoi,” which I used to play when I was a DJ in a bar, and I’d always wanted to sing this song with a house rhythm. “Those Were The Days” was a big hit song when I was living in Brazil. I remember that the 7-inch record had an Apple label mark printed on it. At that time, I didn’t understand the lyrics, but I was singing the last part of Lalala. I thought it would be interesting to take this song and turn it into dance music.
F/S: Going back to your debut, what were the recording sessions for it like? I noticed on a live performance of yours (on YouTube) there were two other musicians playing with you. How much did you and/or they contribute to the overall sound of the album?
PGF: The live performance at that time was a kind of showcase for the label, just before Melting Moment came out. The man playing the keyboard was Daishi Hisakawa (of ARM and Tanzmuzik), and playing synth pads was DJ Baby Tokio. They helped me for only one live performance. There were a few musicians in the recording session, almost all my friends, and each song was made like a band between myself and the musicians.
F/S: Can you describe what led up to your next full-length release, Shyness? It appears, like you mentioned, you changed record labels (moving to Columbia) and creative horses. It also seems like you were involved in some way with the Scottish musician/producer, Momus (aka Nick Currie). I couldn’t tell if you recorded this album outside of Japan but you did have an EP (Mr. Polyglot Remix).
PGF: After I released “Melting Moment,” I had an interview in a Japanese magazine featuring Momus, and an interviewer said Momus had been keen on POiSON GiRL FRiEND. I answered, “If he thinks so, I’d love to work with him.” Then his Japanese friend translated that interview and sent him the magazine. Momus then sent a fax to my record company saying he would be happy to work with me.
We didn’t have email at that time, so we kept in touch by fax and letter. A few months later, I had the opportunity to go to London, and I met him there for the first time. Even though we hadn’t decided on a record company yet, Momus had already made a few demo tracks for the album.
F/S: Were you happy with this release and the change in labels? I know you said you wanted more artistic freedom. Some reviewers charge that this was more of Momus’s album than yours — is that correct, or would you argue differently?
PGF: The new label was Nippon Columbia’s International section, so they didn’t interfere with the work. I went to London by myself with the production budget and made Shyness during my three-month stay. Momus was the sound producer and wrote and arranged most of the songs. So, this album certainly had a strong Momus color.
F/S: On Shyness, I hear a bit of the French “Lolita” aesthetic creeping in and songs touching on more sexual themes. Was this an aesthetic choice, if I’m correct (of course), for some reason? I can only imagine how a shy person like yourself came to terms with this decision. I believe you referenced growing up influenced by French Chanson, which, of course, in the music of Gainsbourg and others, touches on a lot of these ideas.
PGF: I think Shyness was produced with content like a spiritual love game between us. In private, he and I are both very shy people, so we would play freely in the songs. We both loved French music, and, of course, Serge Gainsbourg.
F/S: What happened to all those orchestral or acoustic touches you had on your debut? Was this move towards an even deeper electronic sound something that made you jettison such sonic touches?
PGF: The Balanescu Quartet arranged and played a few songs in the album, and there are some songs with an acoustic taste. Rather, the club sound that was in Melting Moment is gone.
F/S: What was the response from Japanese audiences to this release? Did you feel this was crossing the rubicon for you, towards making you more of a “pop” star? Or was that something you weren’t aiming for?
PGF: The CD sold better, but many fans wanted something a little more club-like.
F/S: Let’s start talking about 1994’s Love Me. Speaking for myself, as my favorite record of yours, I feel like this marked a turning point. You were back in Japan and once again taking back full creative reins. Can you explain your vision behind Love Me? Also, what brought you back to Japan?
PGF: After having released and performed live to support Shyness, I was so exhausted that I stayed at a friend’s house in Nice for a few months. Initially, I wanted to make music there, but the sunshine in the south of France was too beautiful. I visited many museums, so I became more influenced by contemporary art than music. I had a contract with Nippon Columbia to make another album, and since I had a lot of rest in the south of France, I wanted to produce my own music in Japan again.
Anyway, I’m very happy to hear that this one is your favorite! At first, I was planning on making a mini-album, but the number of songs increased halfway through, so I made a full-size album with the budget for a mini-album. At that time, most studios in Japan used digital consoles, but in London, I rediscovered the advantages of analog consoles. So, I really wanted to record with analog consoles again.
I decided to ask Mr. Yoshiaki Kondo from GOK Sound, who recorded the POiSON GiRL FRiEND indie album and Dark Eyed Kid album, to be the engineer. The GOK Sound Studio was just in the process of moving, and the move hadn’t finished by the time I booked…so, I kept the GOK Sound 16-track tape recorder and recorded basic data and keyboards at a friend’s house.
After recording the basic tracks, we recorded vocals and mixed down at GOK Sound, which was still under construction. At the time, Mr. Kondo, the engineer, was tired from organizing and often napped in front of the console, so I adjusted the EQ of the console to match my favorite sound.
“Tout Est Rouge” was a song made for Shiseido’s corporate advertisement, and composed by Takeshi Isogai, who arranged “Quoi” on Melting Moment – I just added a verse to it. We decided to change the chorus a little bit and re-record it. The song was quite heavy and dark, so I thought I’d put in a slightly brighter and lighter song on the album. I’ve always wanted to do a cover version of Michel Polnareff’s “Love Me, Please Love Me” in an ambient house style, so I assigned the rhythm and bass to Nobby Style (from Dark Eyed Kid) and the classical piano phrase to Naoko Eto. I also asked Kiyoshi Hazemoto to arrange the hit ‘80s French song “Ouragan” and finish it in a techno style.
I decided on these three songs first, then I composed the rest of the songs more freely. The number of songs grew as I became influenced by techno, trip-hop, and the Madchester scene.
F/S: Songs like “Love Is…” and “Love Me, Please Love Me” (the latter, for me, conjures the aura of Michel Polnareff) speak of the many meanings behind the word love and what love can be. What did “love” mean to you then? It appears that this album was dedicated to loving yourself first but I might be wrong.
PGF: Yes, I have some narcissism because I am an artist. But I was “amoureuse,” loving someone else other than myself at that moment… Always wondering: what is love? How to Love? bla bla bla…I was influenced by R.D. Laing’s book, Do You Love Me?, when I was a teenager. I always had a kind of anxiety, always asking: “Do you love me?”
F/S: I’ve been intrigued by this album’s varied photography and cover design for ages. It almost seems as if you were taking on different personas (or expressing all your phases). What were you trying to convey with all we could see?
PGF: My face changes every day. And the clothes I wear also change from avant-garde to school uniform fashion. So, my boyfriend is often said to be with different women. But it’s all me. For the photo session, the stylist prepared different clothes for me, and they took a lot of pictures. In the end, the jacket was decided to be the “girly” one, and some A&Rs suggested that facing down with roses would be a lovely touch.
F/S: How had “club culture” influenced your music then? I know that through some of your aliases— notably, as the Dark Eyed Kid — you were exploring a deeper techno-indebted experience. I mean, this record featured awesome Japanese dance musicians like Nobby Style and Kiyoshi Hazemoto that fleshed out your rhythm-based tracks further than before.
PGF: The impact of “club culture” that I encountered in London venues in 1989 woke me up. I enjoyed some New Wave music, such as that from “The Cure,” and there were clubs where acid house and New Wave were played on the same floor. It was amazing. I was particularly impressed by the mix of Lil Louis’s “French Kiss” with ambient piano. That version may not have been released, or it may have been a DJ remix at the time, but it was really exciting! Before then, I loved having an acoustic atmosphere, using piano and guitar in my songs. Many Japanese people who love techno music have their roots in YMO and Kraftwerk, but in my case, it was 808 State, Adamski, and Cabaret Voltaire…etc.
After returning to Tokyo, I found a party or nightclub called “Club Psychics,” which was just as cool as the clubs in London. I made lots of friends there. For example, Kiyoshi Hazemoto is still a friend. Dark Eyed Kid consisted of not only myself and Nobby Style but also DJ WADA and Heigo Tani (Co-Fusion).
F/S: Did Columbia do anything to promote this record: videos, tour, or anything else? Earlier on you had at least a few videos to accompany songs. I can’t tell whether this kind of support dropped off.
PGF: We held a live event at Seed Hall in Shibuya. That was all. The record company didn’t have much of a budget for promotion because Shyness didn’t sell as well as they had expected.
F/S: Again, what kind of reception were you expecting for this album. At the end of the day, it appeared to be the last you’d do for a major record label.
PGF: I put everything into this album, so even if I died tomorrow, I would have no regrets. I didn’t really take into account other people’s reviews and sales. Thought this would be the end of my term as “PGF”. I wanted to move on to the next stage, where either a major label or independents would be equally fine.
F/S: To put it simply: What happened in the time between Love Me and 2014’s RondoElectro? 20 years is a long time.
PGF: After I released “Love Me” in 1995, two tragedies occurred in Japan. One was the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and another one was the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack. All of this was so shocking to me – so much so that I couldn’t make any music.
And in 1995 I also found the internet; it was so exciting! The music scene had become increasingly fragmented. Techno became minimalist and split into two groups: one for those who danced on the dance floor and the other for those who listened at home. As time passed, there was less and less room for singing, and I found myself attracted more to the looped synthesizer sounds than to vocals or real instruments. Then I started Kiss-O-Matic with NObby.
After Kiss-O-Matic split in 1999, I moved to Strasbourg, France where I stayed for more than three years without making music. I had grown very tired of the techno scene and all its many needed pieces of musical equipment. I returned to Tokyo in 2004. I hadn’t decided what I was going to do. My friends and fans asked me to perform live. Back then, I was slowly getting back into music. Sometimes I sang some French classical music by Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy…etc. RondoElectro was a rehabilitation album for me, when I thought I would never come back to techno. “2002 au Japon” and “testype” were unreleased sound sources.
F/S: RondoElectro was released in a far different time frame than your earlier work. Dance music, pop, and much of everything had changed so much. What were you trying to achieve creatively with this release? Was whatever was going on in music alter how you created this album?
PGF: I myself was thinking about graduating from PGF. For me, PGF is where I make pop music inspired by New Wave. Perhaps I should have made more mature music. But I did what came naturally and I wanted to express myself freely. Twenty years later, my love for music still hasn’t changed.
F/S: Does being creative come harder to you now? I know that after RondoElectro, four years would pass again before another full-length release, 2018’s Das Gift on Nekon Records.
PGF: No, not at all. I have lots of ideas in my head. The only issue is budget. Das Gift was kind of a collaboration with other musicians. Not producing my work makes it simpler, but also fun.
F/S: I believe it was in that same year, 2018, that I wrote about your work. Speaking personally, I was just surprised how little of your work was known. I was just floored by your music when I heard it way back when. I thought you had some degree of notoriety. Were you surprised by the reception you’ve been getting by contemporary audiences? How does it feel that this younger generation is now influenced by your work? Do they reach out to you often?
PGF: It’s true that I had partial success, but it was confined to a small circle. I think it was a little too early for Japan at that time and in general. I’m happy that time has finally caught up with me. Yes, it’s amazing and very happy that young people are discovering and still listening to the works I created in my teens and twenties, thirty years later! The young people’s spirits don’t change, I believe, even if the times do change.
F/S: How do you feel to see your work being rediscovered and shared on such compilations like MFM’s Heisei No Oto? I believe a small label, 7th Heaven, also issued a limited cassette compilation of unreleased recordings.
PGF: When I heard about them releasing a compilation, I was, of course, surprised because the old sound sources hadn’t been on any streaming service. I’m also happy to receive offers from small labels. However, I don’t think a major label would agree to such a proposal. So we provided indie sound sources for that 7th Heaven cassette release. I don’t want to break young people’s dreams, so I’m doing everything I can to be positive. Do you know The Smiths’s song called “Ask”; “So if there’s something you’d like to try, ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?”
F/S: Where are you now in terms of what you want to do creatively? Do you still feel you’re able to perform, make music, or share other music you’ve had in your archives? I know Sad Disco recently reissued Melting Moment, and many would love to see you perform or release as Poison Girl Friend again.
PGF: On the one hand, I am quite busy now. There are many offers for collaborations, DJs, and live performances, etc. However, on the other hand, making a new PGF album takes time.
F/S: Is there anything coming up for you, perhaps a project you’re working on in the future, that we can look forward to? Or that you’re looking forward to sharing with others (like the readers)? I believe you’ve started to play a few live gigs, if I’m not mistaken.
PGF: Right now, I’m busy taking responsibility for the work I did 30 years ago. For better or worse, people would rather hear old songs in concert than hear me singing new ones. Artists are constantly eager to start on new adventures, but at the same time, they also have to be responsible for their past. That’s the dilemma. In November, I will be singing a few songs as a guest at Satoru Wono’s concerts. I think we’ll be performing new songs there, in addition to “Rien Á Faire,” which we co-wrote for RondoElectro.
A song made in collaboration with Sega Bodega and Mayah Alkhateri for their new project, “Kiss Facility,” will be released soon. I’m also working on a collaboration with New York DJ and designer Gaul Plus, and plan to do some remix work for Nicole Faux Naiv from Berlin. Working with younger generations from all around the world is really exciting. I will also be a resident DJ on NTS Radio, so you can hear my music selections from anywhere in the world!
F/S: Do you have any bit of advice you would tell a younger version of yourself (or new artists inspired by your work)? We all have a bit of wisdom to impart with time.
PGF:
Believe in yourself.
Listen to a lot of music.
Read a lot of books.
Watch a lot of films.
And, if possible, travel alone.
F/S MIX
Tracklist:
POiSON GiRL FRiEND – Love Me
The Durutti Column – Bordeaux
Momus – Murderers, The Hope Of Women
Françoise Hardy – Même Sous La Pluie
Tuca – Verde
Milton Nascimento – O Vendedor De Sonhos (Feat. Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock)
Astrud Gilberto – I Will Wait For You
Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa – A Felicidade ( 1&2 )
Coral De Joab – Pra Fente Brasil
Pierre Barouh – 80 A.B.( Album Out Track)
Brigitte Fontaine – Comme A La Radio
Frank Sinatra – It Was A Very Good Year
Benjamin Biolay – Les Cerfs-Volants
POiSON GiRL FRiEND – Hardly Ever Smile (Without You)
Editor’s note: A huge thank you for Noriko for her time and her music. You can find her on social media, here and here. All images kindly provided by POiSON GiRL FRiEND.
p.s. Sega Bodega was kind enough to share his thoughts on Poison Girl Friend. I’ll go ahead and share them here:
F/S: Simply put, how did you discover POiSON GiRL FRiEND’s music? What drew (or continues drawing) you to her music?
Sega Bodega: It was Mayah (of Kiss Facility) who showed me, it just felt instantly classic.
F/S: Can you describe the journey that led you to get Noriko’s contribution to kiss facility’s “So Many Ways”?
Sega Bodega: Basically, I put on Twitter that, “I wondered where she was?” and someone directed me to her Twitter. I just mailed her and said was a big fan and would love to work on something — Mayah and myself were also going to Tokyo. So, we made plans to meet and had some dinner and karaoke, we had a lot of fun.
F/S: How was it working with Noriko? I believe you’ve met her in person, as well.
Sega Bodega: After we sent her the demo of ‘So Many Ways’, I think, I remember it being a really quick process. I’m hoping we’ll do more in the future with her.
F/S: What kind of influence do you feel Noriko can still play in the greater world of music? Is there something of hers that you’d recommend others to revisit? I know she’s mentioned to me how a lot of contemporary club music, seemingly, has shuttled-off a space for singers (much like her) to be in.
Sega Bodega: She’s done such a range of music at this point that I wouldn’t even know where to start, but I do love how the kids are discovering her and going through all her work, she really deserves to be more widely heard.
Sega also shared a mix PGF crafted, for his BBC6 radio show. You can find that here.