Ever since Sai's online store launched, including for the recent DseconD pre-order, we've had Rollo model as usual, putting together styling that's a bit different from the brand's official looks — what did you think?
Having just asked what you thought, I realize the real question this time is "wait, who even is Rollo?" — so let me properly introduce him here.
Rollo's main job is musician, and alongside performing himself, he's also worked with the psychedelic band Kikagaku Moyo and their label, Guruguru Brain's affiliated bands, handling production and mixing for them, and at times also plays guitar backing Superfly on Music Station.
The music in Sai's try-on videos is also something he made for us, and he's done the opening and ending themes for the documentary videos I post on YouTube, too — and some of you who came to the Tokyo pop-up may have spoken with him, since he was there working as staff.
He's always been a big personal fan of DseconD pieces even off-duty, going so far as to casually wear DseconD when appearing on Music Station, so I think he naturally got the brand's appeal across to everyone at the venue.
Now, some of you may have already seen this, but we've started carrying Rollo's music at Sai as well.
What we currently carry is his debut album from 16 years ago — called Pinhole, and it comes in three formats: 12-inch LP, MP3, and WAV data download.
A genre-crossing atmosphere — touching on acid folk, industrial, noise, psychedelia — that's pleasantly hard to pin down.
Honestly, I don't know much about music — about all I can judge is whether something sounds cool — but his playing and sound-making seem to be very well regarded in those circles, and it's nice to see how positive the comments were when he appeared as a guest on a friend's YouTube channel.
In terms of general name recognition, I'd say he's not exactly famous, but there are plenty of talented people out there who just haven't been discovered yet — I think the only difference is whether their creative output ends up being clothes or sound.
A big part of why I run Sai is the hope that it can help introduce people to talents like this that aren't yet widely known, so going forward, I'd like to keep introducing people and work that I personally find cool — not just clothes and perfume.
This goes for MEITEI's Tenka, which I mentioned recently too — of course, these days you don't have to go out of your way to buy a CD or LP, since you can listen on streaming services like Apple Music or Spotify.
But I think many music lovers can also appreciate the choice to own something with physical weight, like a CD or LP, and savor the sound that way.
Just like you could listen in a record shop, I'll leave a streaming link here too, so please give it a listen — and if you decide for yourself that it's cool, I'd be happy if you'd also consider the LP or digital version.