Ultimate shoulder rides

Oni.Iri is a female metalcore band from Austin Texas,
made up of Eleina Iri and her sister Yuki Iri.

They have several songs about shoulder riding.

https://youtu.be/EFpdBtUHnQo?si=60gI9Sz3NljDWOYS 

This song was actually recorded with Yuki Sitting on Eleina's Shoulders for the whole take.

Here was their commentary:

Y?KI:
"This song is about rising above.
So, I decided that recording from
the floor was unacceptable...

I needed to be up high...

So I climbed onto Eleina?s shoulders and told her,
'If you love me, you won't drop me. Not even for a second.
Hold me up here for the whole take~'.

I didn't want to record from the floor...
I wanted to record from
where I belong, elevated.

The sense of danger... the instability.
Trying to balance on her trembling shoulders
forced my breath to become sharp, like a knife.
Balancing on a moving person
for four minutes forced my body
into a state of hyper-focus.

I couldn't relax a single muscle,
which gave my high notes a
piercing clarity I could never
achieve standing still.

And Eleina, you can hear the
struggle in her voice.
You can hear it in the low end,
her voice deepening, growling, fighting
just to keep me up there.

That grit in her tone?
My weight, positioned squarely over her spine,
forced her to ground
herself completely.
It compressed her diaphragm, pushing her voice into this deep,
resonant growl to support us both.
That is the sound of perfect,
heavy harmony."



ELEINA:

"I honestly didn't think it was physically possible."
"We were ready to record, and suddenly Yuki climbs up,
locks her legs around me, and says,
'Can you hold me like this for the whole take?
Or is four minutes
too long for you?'

My first thought was...
Yuki you are insane...

She weighs 20 lbs more than me.
And Kuresshendo is a
marathon of a song.
I thought my knees would buckle
before the first chorus..

But then she started singing.
Because she was fighting so
hard to balance, her voice had this shimmering,
vibrating intensity
that filled the room.

And I realized... she was right.
She knew exactly what
she was doing.

Because I was fighting so hard
to support her weight,
I couldn't breathe normally.
I had to gasp for air
and lock my core,
which gave my vocals
this terrified intensity.

It was pure artistic genius.
I had to fight for every breath
under her weight...
it gave my backing vocals
a beautiful authentic desperation
that matched hers perfectly.

I was shaking by the end,
but I refused to put her down
until the song was over.
That take was the sound of
pure trust.
And this version of
Kuresshendo is uniquely
unreplicable."