Hi everyone, it’s your host Faithfulness, and today I have with me Garbage Garden from Kobe, Japan. Garbage Garden is here to share more insight into this evolving musical project while diving into the latest single, “Self-luminescent,” released on May 29, 2026. As the second installment in the ongoing Still Being series, the track arrives with a fascinating concept that balances bright electronic energy with deeper questions about identity, emotional expectations, and self-worth. In Garbage Garden’s words, “This song explores the gap between what we’re told to feel and what we actually feel. It’s about the quiet guilt of not being able to ‘love yourself’ on command, and the isolation that can exist even within positive language.” “Self-luminescent” presents a thought-provoking title that invites reflection. What does it mean to generate light from within rather than rely on external validation? Can identity remain intact in a world filled with packaged narratives about how people should feel and who they should become? Let’s find out.
Welcome, Garbage Garden. Before we begin our interview, here is what you need to know about this fascinating project. Garbage Garden is a multi-layered music project based in Kobe, Japan, known for creating a cinematic contrast between refined soundscapes and deeply human narratives. Following the completion of the Not to be Lost series, an exploration of memory and oblivion, the project has entered a more existential creative phase through the Still Being series. Blending Alternative Rock, Metalcore, Psychedelic Synths, experimental pop, and electronic textures, Garbage Garden has developed a sound that is simultaneously playful, sincere, inviting, and quietly unsettling. Through shifting perspectives and emotionally rich storytelling, the project explores the experiences of those who remain unseen within modern life, examining the tension between external definitions and self-derived identity.
Following the quiet intensity of “Quiet Garden,” Garbage Garden returns with “Self-luminescent,” a release that traces the weight of being in a world increasingly shaped by commodified meaning. The original concept behind the song emerged from reflecting on how familiar messages such as “love yourself” and “you’re not alone” can sometimes feel distant from lived experience when they become standardized and commercialized. Rather than criticizing those ideas, Garbage Garden uses them as metaphors for the emotional disconnect that can arise when personal struggles are met with packaged solutions. Through energetic electronic production, polished pop textures, and moments of clarity and distortion, “Self-luminescent” becomes a vessel for exploring the space between what people are expected to feel and what they genuinely experience.
Having this brief Introduction, I’m sure new and current fans must be excited about our Interview today.
INTERVIEW
Faithfulness: Garbage Garden feels less like a traditional music act and more like an evolving philosophical world. When you first began building this project in Kobe, what emotional or artistic void were you trying to fill?
Garbage Garden: First of all, to be completely honest, I’ve gradually started feeling that saying “I make music” can almost feel disrespectful to traditional artists sometimes. As you know, this is an AI-assisted project, so I’m not creating these results purely through my own technical ability alone.
That said, I do think your description of Garbage Garden as a kind of “philosophical world” is accurate. In that sense, maybe this project is closer to an expression project than a traditional music act.
Originally, I worked on making video games myself for several years. But for about the last twenty years, because of practical realities, I’ve mainly worked translating other people’s creations into my native language. Over time, through living in different countries for extended periods and simply experiencing life, I started wanting to express some of the things I had been carrying inside me somehow.
I’m not sure if I would call it an artistic void exactly, but perhaps it was a kind of emotional void created by having to give up certain forms of expression for realistic reasons.
Faithfulness: Your work constantly balances beauty with discomfort, clarity with distortion, and sincerity with unease. What draws you toward contrasts that many artists usually try to smooth out?
Garbage Garden: I think I’m drawn to contrast because life itself constantly exists in contradiction. Sad things don’t always arrive with sad melodies, and bright moments don’t always feel emotionally bright inside. Sometimes people laugh in painful situations, and sometimes they feel empty even in moments that are supposed to be joyful.
Of course, matching sadness with sadness or happiness with happiness is a very universal and powerful form of expression, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But personally, I’ve always been interested in creating emotional collisions through irony.
I think emotions often become even stronger when opposite feelings are forced to exist together. That tension feels more honest to me.
Faithfulness: The transition from the “Not to be Lost” series into the existential themes of “Still Being” feels deeply intentional. What personal or creative shift pushed you into this new chapter?
Garbage Garden: Honestly, I don’t think I’ve completely moved on from “Not to be Lost” yet. It’s more that I realized I still hadn’t fully told the story I wanted to tell.
Back when I was working on “Before the Magic Fades,” I started thinking that maybe I wanted to focus less on my own story and more on the stories of other people. But while making songs like “Tabula Яasa,” which dealt with CEN, and “busy. being. Real.,” which explored themes connected to the lost generation, I began realizing that I wasn’t truly capable of telling completely unrelated people’s stories as authentically as I wanted.
I simply don’t have enough knowledge or experience to fully speak for lives that are completely separate from my own. And I realized those songs still contained traces of either my own experiences or the experiences of people close to me.
That realization pushed me toward wanting to explore the themes I had been thinking about for a very long time already: “relationship” and “existence.”
At some point, I also started feeling that these themes weren’t just personal anymore. In modern life, especially through social networks and different forms of human connection, many people are constantly hurt, pressured to perform versions of themselves, or forced to exist within roles that don’t fully reflect who they are.
Faithfulness: Garbage Garden explores the unseen people within modern life, the “ghosts” and “noise” that often go unnoticed. What experiences made you want to center those invisible emotional spaces in your music?
Garbage Garden: Maybe it’s because I also feel like one of those ghosts or pieces of noise myself.
Or maybe it’s because I feel there are far more people like that in the world than we usually acknowledge.
Even outside modern society, I think the world has always remembered the people who are visible, exceptional, talented, or successful. Of course, I don’t think I’m the only person trying to talk about those who aren’t seen that way. But I still wanted to leave traces of those invisible emotions somehow, whether through music or any other form of expression.
Although honestly, simply leaving traces behind by itself probably isn’t enough either.
Faithfulness: Your sound blends Alternative Rock, Metalcore, Psychedelic Synths, experimental pop, and electronic textures in a way that feels cinematic yet emotionally intimate. How did you develop a sonic identity that could hold all of those worlds together?
Garbage Garden: I genuinely love traditional genre music as well, but I never really approached Garbage Garden by thinking, “I should tell this story through this specific genre.”
Instead, I kept asking myself: “What kind of sound would best express this particular emotion or idea?”
And most of the time, the answer didn’t fit inside a single genre.
Maybe that also comes from who I am as a person behind Garbage Garden. I was born and raised in Korea, spent much of my twenties and early thirties moving between different countries, and now I live in Japan. At some point, I think I simply became less interested in strict borders, categories, or labels altogether.
Faithfulness: “Self-luminescent” has an explosive electronic energy on the surface, yet emotionally it feels introspective and almost quietly wounded underneath. What inspired you to build that tension between sonic brightness and emotional heaviness?
Garbage Garden: I wanted to maximize the emotional impact of contrast.
Anyone can pair sad lyrics with sad melodies or bright lyrics with bright melodies. And honestly, that can be very powerful because it’s universally understandable. But personally, I wanted to create emotional collisions through irony instead.
Life itself constantly moves through contradictory emotions. Sometimes people have to smile in painful situations, and sometimes joy exists inside sadness. I think emotions often become even more intense when opposing feelings exist at the same time.
That’s why I wanted “Self-luminescent” to sound bright, explosive, and energetic on the surface while carrying something emotionally wounded underneath.
Faithfulness: One of the most striking ideas in “Self-luminescent” is the exploration of positivity becoming industrialized or emotionally distant. Was there a specific moment or realization that first sparked that concept for you?
Garbage Garden: This might sound a little funny to say now, but about ten years ago I was probably close enough to being called a K-pop stan that I couldn’t really deny it. I even traveled to the United States for the first time in my life because of one particular boy group.
At the time, I genuinely loved the bright messages those artists were trying to share.
But later, after I started trying to express my own ideas through music and began interacting with people from very different backgrounds than mine, I slowly realized that these kinds of “positive messages” don’t always function positively for everyone.
For some people, hearing “love yourself” can create enormous pressure and guilt rather than comfort. And I think that kind of emotional pain can be difficult to fully understand unless you’ve seen how deeply it affects someone.
I also started realizing that even the people delivering those messages are trapped inside those roles themselves. They may not always feel happy or emotionally healthy either, but they’re still expected to constantly appear positive and inspiring.
Once I realized that contradiction, I felt a strong need to express it somehow.
Faithfulness: The song reframes phrases like “love yourself” and “you’re not alone” without mocking them, but instead examining how they can lose emotional intimacy when repeated mechanically. How difficult was it to approach such sensitive ideas without losing compassion?
Garbage Garden: I was extremely careful about it.
I don’t hate those phrases myself, and I’ve even found comfort in them before, even if I wouldn’t call it “salvation.” So I never wanted the song to feel like an attack on either the messages themselves or the people who sincerely connect with them.
Actually, the song was already mostly complete around last November, but even after finishing it I kept worrying that the intention might be misunderstood. At one point, I even considered never releasing it at all.
I also tried rewriting the message in a much safer and more indirect way, but then it started feeling too explanatory, almost like I was trying to lecture people instead of making a song. And at that point, it stopped functioning properly both musically and emotionally.
The truth is, phrases like “love yourself” or “you’re not alone” have already become symbols in modern culture. So eventually I started thinking that maybe listeners would understand them more as metaphors than as direct attacks, and that gave me the courage to release the song.
And when I played it for people close to me, nobody reacted with “Why are you attacking those messages?” So in the end, I think I may have worried more than I needed to. (laughs)
Faithfulness: There’s a lingering feeling throughout “Self-luminescent” of someone trying to survive emotionally while also questioning the language they’ve been given to heal. What emotional state were you personally trying to translate into music while writing this track?
Garbage Garden: While writing this track, I think I was trying to translate the emotional exhaustion that comes from wanting comfort while simultaneously feeling disconnected from the language used to provide it.
Sometimes people genuinely want to heal, but the words surrounding healing can begin to feel distant, mechanical, or strangely empty after hearing them repeated too many times. And when that happens, it can create an even deeper sense of isolation, because now you feel guilty not only for struggling, but also for failing to respond correctly to the “right” emotional language.
I wanted the song to exist somewhere inside that contradiction.
Faithfulness: Musically, the song moves between clarity and fracture rather than building toward a traditional emotional payoff. Why was it important for the structure itself to reflect instability instead of resolution?
Garbage Garden: Because I think life itself works that way.
Very few people actually live lives where stable emotional resolution is constantly waiting for them. Human beings themselves are unstable creatures, so I felt it was important for the structure of the music to reflect that honestly.
Instead of moving toward a perfectly clean emotional payoff, I wanted the song to move between moments of clarity and fracture, because emotionally that felt more truthful to me.
Faithfulness: As part of the “Still Being” series, “Self-luminescent” seems to represent a turning point from external validation toward self-definition. What does becoming “self-luminescent” mean to you on a human level beyond the song itself?
Garbage Garden: I think many of my works have ultimately circled around similar ideas in different forms. Even in earlier songs, there was always some tension between external validation and trying to define yourself on your own terms.
For me, becoming “self-luminescent” means learning to stop waiting for permission to exist.
Not a product, not a ghost, not a role someone else designed for you — but a person who slowly learns to create light from their own scars, contradictions, and unresolved emotions.
I don’t think that process ever fully ends, honestly. But maybe simply continuing to exist while carrying those contradictions is already a form of light in itself.
Faithfulness: The polished pop textures make the song immediately accessible, but the themes underneath are deeply existential. Do you intentionally use catchy, high-velocity production as a way of inviting listeners into more uncomfortable emotional territory?
Garbage Garden: Yes, exactly.
The subject matter itself is already uncomfortable, so I felt that if I wrapped it inside equally uncomfortable music, even I probably wouldn’t want to listen to it. (laughs)
That’s why I intentionally made the song bright, fast, energetic, and almost deceptively uplifting if you only focus on the melodies and surface-level production.
I’m also a listener myself, so I understand that people are usually drawn in by melody and atmosphere first before they become willing to engage with more difficult emotional ideas underneath.
And like I mentioned earlier, there was also a deliberate irony in using the language and sonic grammar of “positive” music to talk about rejecting industrialized positivity itself.
Faithfulness: Since this release is AI-assisted, how did you approach integrating AI into a project that is ultimately centered around deeply human narratives and emotional complexity?
Garbage Garden: I know this is a sensitive topic, so thank you for asking such a thoughtful question.
I’m very aware that many people feel uncomfortable about anything involving AI, and I also understand the criticism surrounding AI-generated “slop” in music culture. There’s often a tendency to immediately view AI-assisted work through a negative lens, even inside communities where people actively use AI tools themselves.
That part honestly makes me a little sad sometimes.
But even when AI assists in the process, the emotional center of the work is still human. The existence behind Garbage Garden is not an AI or a machine — it’s still a living human being.
No matter what melodies or ideas AI may generate, the person choosing, shaping, rejecting, arranging, and emotionally guiding those decisions is still human. And because of that, I believe human emotions and human perspectives inevitably become part of the final result.
Faithfulness: Across the “Still Being” series, you seem less interested in providing answers and more interested in tracing emotional states and shifting perspectives. What do you hope listeners discover within themselves while sitting with these unresolved spaces?
Garbage Garden: I don’t think I’m knowledgeable or experienced enough to present “answers” to anyone. And honestly, even if I were, I still don’t think human emotions work in a way where one person can simply provide solutions for another.
So instead, I simply try to express what I genuinely feel.
I also don’t think the emotions inside these songs belong only to me. In many cases, they’re emotions people already know very well but struggle to speak about openly.
In a way, I think of myself more as someone who creates mirrors.
I hope listeners can discover reflections of themselves somewhere inside these songs and perhaps transform those unresolved emotional spaces into something meaningful in their own personal way.
Faithfulness: Looking ahead, do you feel Garbage Garden is moving toward greater clarity and self-definition, or do you think the project will continue existing within tension, ambiguity, and emotional contradiction?
Garbage Garden: I’m honestly not sure yet.
“Self-definition” is definitely one of the themes I’m most interested in, but I don’t think Garbage Garden will ever become a project that only pursues certainty or clarity.
I think it will probably continue exploring tension, ambiguity, contradiction, and emotional instability. But at the same time, I don’t think I want to permanently remain trapped inside those spaces either.
Even while making these kinds of works, I’m still continuing to experience life, change, question things, and rethink myself constantly.
CHECK OUT THE RELEASE OF ‘Self-luminescent’
HAVING LISTENED TO ‘Self-luminescent’, HERE ARE MY HONEST THOUGHTS
Garbage Garden’s “Self-luminescent” is an electrifying electronic pop release that cleverly balances vibrant energy with emotional depth. As part of the Still Being series, the track pairs fast-moving rhythms, glitch-infused production, and industrial textures with a thoughtful exploration of identity and self-perception. Beneath its polished surface lies a powerful reflection on the disconnect between uplifting societal messages and genuine human emotions. The song’s evolving arrangement mirrors its lyrical journey, moving from mechanical restraint toward a liberating sense of self-discovery. Vocally, Garbage Garden delivers a compelling performance that captures frustration, vulnerability, and eventual empowerment. Memorable lines such as “A plastic smile trapped behind digital cages” reinforce themes of emotional confinement, while affirmations of self-reliance provide the track’s emotional breakthrough. By blending experimental sounds with accessible songwriting, “Self-luminescent” becomes both a captivating listening experience and a meaningful statement on finding inner strength beyond external validation
~ Faithfulness (Dulaxi Team)
Finally to our audience, I urge to listen to “Self-luminescent”, add it to your playlist and be Inspired by it and on behalf of Dulaxi I like to appreciate you all by saying thank you everyone, See you on our next interview.
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