Music can tell more in one song than words can in a thousand, and in “Chariots,” Kazu Osumi does just that, with a thought-provoking track that reflects her anxieties about the country’s path, and her desire for unity and change. Her fascination with experimentation is reflected in the use of rock influences, electronic sounds, creative percussion, and a dramatic outro.
In addition to the music, “Chariots” has a very personal message: one that is connected to family history, identity and the experience of feeling like an outsider. As an immigrant and a member of the Generation X, Osumi’s perspective on the Vietnam War and inequality gives her even more insight into the theme of belonging and the importance of understanding one’s prejudices. By singing, she wishes to bring a smile to people’s faces, make them feel that they’re not alone in their ordeals, and motivate them to act in their communities.
Through Musiversal, Osumi collaborated with a group of accomplished musicians and engineers, such as Seva Ivanov, Bobby Harlow, Bruno Werner and Devin Malloy. They combined various creative approaches to the strong arrangement of the track.
Kazu Osumi speaks with Mister Styx from Music Arena GH about the inspiration behind “Chariots”, her musical influences, her creative process, and her dreams for the song to start conversations about Justice, Equality, Democracy, and Collective Action.
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You describe art as something that can heal, bring people together and remind us of our humanity. What do you hope listeners feel or think about after hearing “Chariots”?
I’m hoping that the pain we feel collectively is being acknowledged. So many of our days are spent with a smaller group of close family and friends that we can feel isolated from what we all feel as a community. I hope the song reminds people that they’re not alone in what they’re feeling. We just have to pull together as a country and change course, returning to the values that our country was founded upon.
Your family has roots in immigration and the Vietnam War, while you were born and raised in California. How has your family history influenced the way you see identity, belonging and the idea of being an outsider?
Growing up, my parents would occasionally mention the Vietnam War and tell me how lucky I was to have been born here. I remember almost feeling guilty when they would say that, but I didn’t really understand the full extent of what they had lost. Beyond those occasional mentions, I didn’t know much about their experiences.
It’s funny to see how my perception of self has shifted as I’ve grown older. As a child, you just sort of exist and don’t really think about how others might perceive you. I grew up in Santa Ana, and there were a lot of other Asian Americans in the community, so I never really felt like a minority until I moved and went to high school in Mission Viejo. Asians were present, but we were definitely a minority.
Even then, going to UCI and UCLA, I didn’t really feel like a minority there either.
Moving on to my dental anesthesiology residency, I think the fuller picture of who I was came into view. I know I am a person of color, of smaller stature, and a woman. That trifecta has shown me time and again how much harder it is for me to be viewed as someone capable and competent. It just has to be earned in a way that’s different than if my physical presentation were different. I could introduce myself as the doctor, but the patient or parent would still call me a nurse. It’s like something in their mind is refusing to believe someone who looks like me could be a doctor.
People always have biases that are conditioned subconsciously, and even if those biases work against us, we still develop them. I think the main point is that we need to recognize the biases each of us may have and train ourselves to operate without them. That’s how we move toward equality. But you just can’t get there without doing the hard work of looking for what biases exist within yourself and changing our infrastructure to allow individuals from historically oppressed communities to rise and better serve their communities.
I think about my parents losing the country they once knew, and how they wanted me to appreciate the opportunities I had growing up here. Now, as an adult, I find myself worrying about the direction of the country I’ve always called home. I think there’s something about that generational experience that has shaped how I feel about belonging, and perhaps even why I felt compelled to write “Chariots.”
“Chariots” features a number of different musical elements, including arpeggiators, percussion and a dramatic outro. How did you approach creating the song’s overall sound?
The fun thing about my approach to music is that I love so many different kinds of music, and it naturally just comes out. I just play with different instruments and sounds and see what happens. I view it as akin to fusion food, but with music. I feel like we all have “accents” in music based on what we grew up consuming. The mixture is just the byproduct of all the elements I love, even if it’s more unconventional to find them all together.
It can work against me because sometimes people just expect what they expect from a genre, and if you blend elements in a more unconventional way, it just doesn’t sit well with them. But I think that’s also what makes music interesting. I don’t necessarily want to make something that fits neatly into a genre. I want to make something that feels like me.
You mention Guns N’ Roses, The Beatles and Billie Eilish as influences on different parts of the production. What did you take from each of these artists when developing “Chariots”?
Guns N’ Roses was such a big part of my childhood. I think you can hear the rock elements throughout the entire song, but the big pivot at the outro is something that I’ve always loved about “November Rain.”
I made some of the percussion in the chorus more floor-tom-heavy, kind of like “Come Together” by The Beatles. The harmonies in the ad-libs of the breakdown feel like The Beatles to me, too, but it wasn’t planned that way. In hindsight, that’s just what I feel when I listen to it.
Billie Eilish’s brother, Finneas, does a lot of fun delay throws and uses an arpeggiator in a very mesmerizing way in “CHIHIRO,” so I wanted to play with that as well.
The outro takes the song into a much bigger musical space, with timpani, percussion and other instruments. What inspired this theatrical change, and what did you want it to add to the song?
I think the beginning of the song outlines what I, and many others, feel about what is going on in our country. There is a call to action, but ultimately, I wanted to convey the resolve that our nation has to have to redirect its current course. And that resolve needs to be big, which needed to be reflected in the arrangement as well.
I wanted the listener to feel that shift from frustration and helplessness toward something much bigger and more determined.
You worked with musicians and engineers from Musiversal, including Seva Ivanov, Bobby Harlow, Bruno Werner and Devin Malloy. How did working with this team help bring your original ideas for “Chariots” to life?
They are all consummate professionals in what they do. Seva Ivanov is such an amazing engineer, musician, and producer. He also doesn’t mince words, which you do need! But he doesn’t just give a critique; he will make suggestions on what to do to improve it.
Bobby Harlow, famously of The Go, approaches it from more of an artistic perspective. So you have the contrast of the technical and the bigger artistic picture working together to help bring it all together.
Bruno and Devin were a joy to work with in developing the percussion and beats. I would feed them ideas, and they’d just go along with them. And you don’t have a lot of time sometimes, with sessions lasting only 30 minutes. I’m always amazed at what we can pull together in such a short time span.
You recorded the song at your home studio while also working remotely with the other musicians. What did you enjoy most about this recording process, and what was the biggest challenge?
I think working with so many different musicians from around the world is so much fun. They all imbue a certain energy into the song that I couldn’t create alone. And every exchange of energy just creates something new and beautiful.
I also love all the learning I get to experience. So many of them are very generous in sharing their knowledge with me. I really do love learning more about production and mixing, and this is just such a great platform for having access to people who truly know what they are doing.
Since I am also a mom and dentist anesthesiologist, my schedule is pretty packed most days. Being able to do sessions with people all over the world at odd hours allows this to happen. It would be much more difficult if they were only available during normal work hours in my time zone.
The biggest challenge is sometimes just having to wait for the next session, since everything is done sequentially. But it does give me time to mull over what changes I want to make to the production.
You hope “Chariots” can encourage people to think about the importance of voting and taking action in their communities. What would you like this release to contribute to the wider conversation about justice, equality and democracy?
I’m just hoping that it gives voice and expression to people who may not be able to articulate the depth of what they are currently experiencing. In conversation, it’s sometimes hard to express a feeling with words alone. That’s where art comes in—it elevates that feeling in a way that is more true to itself.
And maybe when people recognize that feeling in themselves and in others, they’ll feel a little less alone and a little more compelled to do something about it.
