2024-04-11 11:26:56
One of the most popular local bands, Mirai, is releasing their fourth album this Friday. She called him Tomodachi, in the Czech transliteration Tomodači, which means “friends” in Japanese. The quartet from Frýdek-Místek highlights the strong mutual bond behind their successes so far.
The fact that even after ten years of playing together they still have friendly relations, they do not take it for granted, says group leader Mirai Navrátil. “We also have operational arguments, but we still like each other. Maybe we’re riding the wave of success, it keeps the mood better. And we always drive in one car, we don’t each have to have our own limousine for the concert,” describes the thirty-one-year-old singer.
Tomodachi continues the tradition of Japanese album titles. Navrátil’s mother, who is Japanese, came up with the idea for the first one, Konnichiwa, or Hello. The second album is called Arigató, which means Thank you. Three years ago it was followed by Maneki Neko, or the term for a waving cat among Asian traders.
Mirai will emphasize the idea of friendship, shared experiences and memories with a video clip for the new song Easy. It was directed by Ondřej Kudyn and based on childhood footage of the band members.
“A lot of cassettes from Japan were accidentally smeared by my grandfather during his lifetime, something was lost and thrown away during the move, so it’s a small miracle that we found a few treasures. But in the end, there was so much material that a lot of it will definitely not get there,” notes Navrátil , a native of Ógaki City, Gifu Prefecture.
One of the album’s leitmotifs is time. “We’re celebrating ten years with the band, I was thirty, and even though it wasn’t planned, it’s probably close to my heart. How everything goes by quickly and that time mysteriously solves a lot of things, even if it doesn’t necessarily go against it,” he names Mirai is the theme of the next single Čas rány zahoji, in which Slovak rapper Majk Spirit is a guest.
The band Mirai celebrates its tenth anniversary. | Photo: Kubo Krížo
The song, inspired by the sound of a twelve-string acoustic guitar, was composed by Navrátil with producer Ondřej Fiedler, known under the pseudonym Fiedlerski.
Mirai’s next performance will be on April 20 at Hradecky Majáles. The album will be launched at May concerts in Prague, Brno and Ostrava.
“It will be playbacks of the entire new record from the first to the last song. Of course, we will also add a few songs from other records, but this is a concept that the fans will not see again. We will definitely not be this intimate in clubs for a long time,” Navrátil advises. In mid-June, Mirai will then start a series of Summer Fests, i.e. its festivals, in Prague.
The formation was formed in 2014. In addition to singer and guitarist Navrátil, the band features drummer Šimon Bílý, bassist Michal Stulík and guitarist Tomáš Javůrek.
After several singles, the group released the debut album Konnichiwa with the hits “When you can’t, then add”, “Anděl” or “Chci tančit”. Thanks to this record, Mirai became the discovery of the year at the Anděl 2017 awards. During the period of anti-pandemic measures, they then performed concerts for listeners in cars. Last year, Mirai took second place in the Groups category of the Český slavík survey. Only Kabat got more votes.
Video: The single “Time to heal the wounds” from the new album Mirai
Rapper Majk Spirit is a guest in the single Time for Wounds to Heal from the new album Mirai. Photo: Mojmír Ševčík | Video: Universal Music