immi - Switch 6 August 2008
Mayu Nakazawa is better known by her stage name: ‘immi’. It is not uncommon for musicians to adopt a different moniker for performances. But Nakazawa first attempted a music career under her own named and failed.A pianist since childhood, Nakazawa began writing her own music and performing when she was in high school. During this time she came to the attention of a producer at Universal Music Japan who encouraged her to move to Tokyo. Nakazawa took the advice and made the move in 2001, signing with the company and began recording in studios. Within one year Nakazawa created and released three singles and one album, Step Into my Heart 27 November 2002. They were all commercial failures and Universal Music Japan subsequently terminated her contract.It seemed like Mayu Nakazawa had blown her one chance at a music career. She receded from the Tokyo scene and slowly began to rework her style. During this time she adopted the name immi and began composing electronic music that drew influences from contemporary club music and 1980’s Western synth-pop/rock. She re-emerged with the label Grand Trax and released her first single as immi, Cosmic Pink, on the 28th of Novmber 2007, almost five years to the date that she released her last album. Unlike her earlier endeavors Cosmic Pink was quickly successful and was swiftly followed by another single, Klaxon.immi released her first album under this name a little less than a year later. This time her album was both commercially and critically successful, making it onto to Oricon charts, something that did not happen with any of her music released under her real name. Critics praised her combination of sultry vocals and measured synth-pop that washed over listeners like a wave instead of trying to blow out the speakers e.g. ‘Power Station’. A year later immi signed with DefStar Records and released her second album, Spiral, in 2010 to even greater success.It seems like most people do not get second chances in the music industry. Mayu Nakazawa blew her first chance, but instead of calling it quits she began a musical self-reconstruction that lasted five years and resulted in her return as immi. The two albums I’ve mentioned are her only ones as immi; I would have uploaded them both but I can’t find my copy of Spiral damnit…. Anyways—nowadays a lot of her focus has gone into Tacomimi, a duo of her and DJ Jetbikini, a long-time friend who actually made some contributions to immi’s two studio albums.I’ll upload Spiral whenever I actually find it, along with the remix album for Switch. Until then, as always, I hope you enjoy the music!