On 25 October 1996, フィッシュマンズ (Fishmans) released LONG SEASON: an album built around a single composition lasting more than 35 minutes. The idea had already surfaced in “SEASON”, issued as a single one month earlier. During July and August, the group developed its longer counterpart at its private Waikiki Beach studio, as Universal Music’s band history documents.
Formed in 1987 around singer-songwriter Shinji Sato, Fishmans began with reggae and dub at the heart of its music. Its previous album, Kūchū Camp, had marked a change in direction earlier in 1996. LONG SEASON took that exploration further, allowing one musical idea to occupy the space normally divided among several songs.
Universal Music describes a slow-moving rhythm and Sato’s whisper-like singing, and notes a backing-vocal appearance by UA. Although the original CD separates the piece into five indexed sections, the music was conceived as a continuous whole. The band even performed it in full onstage.
Thirty years later, the time this music demands is still part of what makes it distinctive.