Fifteen years after one of Japan's worst disasters, Garbage Garden is back with "Triptych+1+1," a very personal release that sits quietly and firmly between remembering and moving on. In honor of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the Kobe-based artist makes a work that feels more like a private reckoning shared with the world than a regular tribute.
"Triptych+1+1" is based on a memory that won't go away. In March 2011, Garbage Garden was starting in Tokyo when everything changed, both physically and emotionally. That first earthquake left more than just a physical mark, it left a mental mark that still echoes today. The track channels that lingering tremor with a lot of honesty. Garbage Garden examines the topic from both insider and outsider perspectives. The author lives in Japan but still feels like an outsider. That duality gives the song its emotional weight. Instead of making a big point or a direct appeal, the piece slowly reveals itself as a quiet reflection on memory, displacement, and the uneasy passage of time.
The fact that the work is bilingual, with English and Japanese mixed, makes that feeling of being in between even stronger. It feels planned, almost like a symbol, because it shows how the artist is between cultures and emotions. The result is a soundscape that draws on a lot of thought without being too sentimental.
Follow Garbage Garden on Instagram