Musical Style and Influences
Aira's musical style has been compared to the popular Yasutaka Nakata-produced acts Capsule and Perfume. Aira has stated that she is a fan of Nakata's work and cites the Pizzicato Five, Kahimi Karie, Yuki, Justice, Cornelius, and Daft Punk as influences on her MySpace page.
Aira's music usually carries themes of science fiction or pop culture with ambient sound effects, heavy use of vocoder and lyrics exploring concepts such as space, robots and technology. "Galaxy Boy", for example, is space-themed and written about a "prototypical galaxy boy" while "Sayonara Technopolis" and its B-sides are written about issues such as human apathy, global warming, and propose moving to the Moon.
Aira has experimented with different genres of music; much of Copy had a dance sound while "Valentine Step" has strong Latin influences and "Sayonara Technopolis" was marketed as "electro meets big beat". She has also recorded several ballads and a heavy techno cover of Lenny Kravitz's "Rock and Roll Is Dead". She has, however, remained consistent in that she uses voice filters and synthesisers.
Aira's videos make use of animation and CGI, with typically fashion-forward costumes. She has professed to being a fan of video games such as Pokémon and has stated in interviews that she is inspired by science fiction and technology. She also bought a plot of land on the Moon for the release of "Sayonara Technopolis".
Aira's compilation EP, Aira's Science CD, contains two tracks, "Science Music" and "Senjō no Merry Christmas" which feature the thereminvox, played by Masami Takeuchi. The CD also contains a cover of Kahimi Karie's "Mike Alway's Diary" and a remix by I Am Robot and Proud, as well as versions of "Science Music" and "Senjō no Merry Christmas" sans theremin.
Read more about this topic: Aira Mitsuki
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