This interview was originally published on May 26, 2024. It has been edited for clarity and rebuilt in the editorial format adopted by J-POP streaming in 2026. References to future projects remain in their original 2024 context.
Flehmann builds songs from sound: a chord that changes on every beat, a bird recorded in a park, a rhythm pattern he knows he tends to repeat. Words and images can wait. First, he needs something he can hear.
That approach has taken him from instrumental electronic music to collaborations with singers, VTubers and VSingers. It also shaped “Save my love,” released on May 1, 2024: a disco-house track in which the synthesized voice of Sheena moves between English and Japanese. J-POP streaming had already selected the song for its 2024 playlist when this interview took place.
Flehmann does not call himself a professional musician. He has another job, spent years away from composition and returned during the COVID-19 pandemic because music was something he could make at home. The distinction matters to him. So does the work.
A used synthesizer and the idea of being heard
Your story begins with a second-hand synthesizer. What did you do with it?
I got my first used synthesizer in junior high school. At first, I played with the sounds and bought sheet music for popular J-POP songs so I could play them on the piano. Then I started using the synthesizer’s built-in sequencer to make original pieces. They were terrible — hardly songs at all — but that was when I began dreaming that I might one day share my own music with the world.
Which records helped turn that curiosity into a musical language?
As a teenager, I was strongly influenced by electronic music: techno, house and electronica. I listened to Derrick May and Ken Ishii, drum and bass artists such as 4hero and Goldie, and artists including Matthew Herbert and Mouse on Mars.
I especially loved French touch and filter house. Daft Punk and Cassius could make electronic music feel poppy and immediate. I was also listening to the major J-POP artists of the time. Both sides remain in my music, particularly in the melodies, song structures and beats.
Did you ever decide that music had to become your profession?
No. I have another job as my main occupation, so I am not a professional music artist. I simply enjoy making music very much.
I had composed and released tracks through independent labels in Japan since I was a student, but I stopped for a long time after I began working. I started again as Flehmann in July 2020. The pandemic restricted where we could go, and composing was something I could do at home. That brought me back.
Starting with the sound itself
When you open a new project, what is usually there first?
A core sound idea. I might wonder what would happen if the chord backing changed on every beat. I might build a track around a good recording of birdsong that I captured in a park. I rarely begin with a concept expressed through words or images. A particular sound, timbre or beat pattern usually comes first, and I construct the song from there.
Electronic music changes quickly. How do you avoid chasing every new genre while keeping your production current?
Music in Japan and elsewhere now mixes so many genres. They divide into smaller categories, combine again and produce even more categories. Keeping up with every trend is difficult.
I concentrate instead on making sure the sound quality does not feel dated. I pay attention to the low end, the use of reverb and delay, and the balance of the vocal mix. Once those foundations are right, I can work in the genres I love and use the structures that feel natural to me.
What makes a track recognisably yours when the genre changes?
I do not carry one consistent message from song to song. What I want is for someone to hear a track and think, “That sounds like Flehmann.” I try to retain certain melodic phrases and rhythmic patterns even when I change genres.
It is slightly embarrassing to study your own quirks, but it is interesting too. They are like verbal habits, or the strange doodles you draw on a notepad without noticing. I have the same habits in music: melodies my fingers tend to find and certain ways of arranging beats. I try to understand them and leave some of them in every song.
“Save my love”: two languages, one voice
“Save my love” mixes English and Japanese around the synthesized voice of Sheena. What did that allow you to do?
I am honoured that J-POP streaming selected “Save my love” for its 2024 playlist. Thank you.
The song has vocals, but I did not collaborate with a human singer for it. I used Synthesizer V to create Sheena’s vocal. The technology handles both English and Japanese very well, and I wanted the transition between the two languages to feel seamless.
The production is bright, but the story is not. What did you want listeners to find inside it?
The lyrics tell a slightly blue story about parting, rather than a happy love story. I hope listeners enjoy the borderless feeling created by the English and Japanese lyrics, along with the pop sensibility of the French touch and disco house that I love.
The cover was created by the illustrator Naoyoshi. Its emotion matches the story in the lyrics, so I would like people to experience the music and artwork together.
Learning to write for other voices
You now release many vocal tracks, although you began Flehmann with instrumentals. What changed?
Working with vocalists has been one of the most difficult and enjoyable parts of this project. Before I began releasing music as Flehmann, I had never made vocal music. Collaborating with a singer was a vague ambition — something I hoped I might try one day.
I released instrumentals first. As more people discovered them, social media opened opportunities to work with vocalists. More recently, I have also worked with VTubers and VSingers. Each collaboration has been inspiring because another person’s voice changes what the music can become.
The visual side grew in the same way. I began working with illustrators on cover art and music videos instead of treating the image as something added at the end.
Some tracks were also picked up by official playlists on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Seeing the music circulate through those selections encouraged me to keep producing, but I still feel that I have a great deal to learn. I do not carry much pressure or think of myself as a successful artist. I want to keep releasing music regularly because I enjoy making it.
What came next
The collaboration Flehmann was preparing when this interview took place was released as “Natsu-iro Outsider” on July 10, 2024, with vocalist Megumi Ebina.
When we spoke in May 2024, what was already taking shape?
I was preparing a collaboration with vocalist Megumi Ebina for July. It brought garage elements into my work, which I had not explored very much before. Her clear voice over a fast beat gave the track an energy I was excited for people to hear.
I planned to continue working with vocalists, VTubers and VSingers. Opportunities can be difficult to find, but I would also love to collaborate with singers and artists outside Japan. My music, including the collaborations, is available for royalty-free commercial use, and I intend to continue that initiative.
Most of the production is still mine, and software instruments have become convincing enough to open doors that once felt closed. One day, I would like to try rock or band-style pop.
If you could spend an evening talking to one musician, who would you choose?
Matthew Herbert. I have listened to Bodily Functions countless times. It carries social and darker ideas without becoming preachy. The album is catchy, beautiful, distinctive and playful. I would like to ask him where those musical ideas begin.
And when your own ideas stop coming?
I play games. Taking a break usually refreshes my mind, and an idea often arrives afterwards.
Or perhaps I simply want an excuse to play games.
