A transportive exercise in ambient and contemporary minimalism by Midori Hirano.
Ever since her debut album back in 2006 on Noble, few have been expertly weaving together contemporary classical, electronica and ambient like Berlin-based musician Midori Hirano. Never one to follow convention, the Kyoto native started playing the piano aged 5 but by 10, found that creating her own piano compositions was far more interesting. These days, she calls the club capital of Europe her home and regularly releases music that intriguingly blurs the lines between contemporary classical composition and ambient production. Her warm and melodic productions are based around the use of traditional instrumentation – piano, strings, guitar – but they’re just as defined by their subtle and careful use of synthesizers, drone-scapes and field recordings.
Those familiar with Hirano’s work, particularly recent releases on Australian label Daisart and Sonic Pieces, will find a lot to love in her Theory Therapy mix. The producer’s LPs have always been more than mere background music or simple algorithmic listening; pressing play on one of her albums is like stepping into another world entirely. Her mix does the same, from the immersive ambience of Baal & Mortimer to the hushed and intimate melodies of Tenniscoats, Hirano’s mix is a transportive exercise in ambient and contemporary minimalism.
Photo by Sylvia Steinhäuser
How are you today?
I’m doing fine, thank you. I’m spending a calm rainy Sunday afternoon and reading about what is happening right now in the world which I find depressing. But at the same time I’ve been listening through my whole new album which was just completed and thinking about how to name all the songs. This can be a good distraction for me to forget all of the chaos happening right now here and there.
Do you think there’s been any changes in your listening habits since lockdown?
I’m not sure about it, but at least I’ve been feeling like I’m slowly losing chances to find new music, because concerts were often the places for me to discover new artists or new music which I would otherwise never discover. To be honest I still don’t have any images of how I will be able to deal with music itself, if this complicated situation will last for another several years. But fortunately I still can make music even more than ever.
Can you tell us a little bit about the mix? What were you feeling when you made it?
Since the theme is music I personally find therapeutic or cathartic, I was trying to choose and mix all tracks to sound like the one I’d like to listen to in order to have a moment of escaping from the real world with flooded information.
It consists of my recent favourite tracks which came out mostly in the last ten years except the Brian Eno’s ‘Alhondiga’, which was from his album released in 1992. Otherwise it includes some tracks of my friends such as YTAMO, Christoph Berg - whom I collaborated with on the track in this mix - Triola and Masayoshi Fujita, as well as my own song. So the mix became like a personal one, but that is just because the music for me is always connected to my emotion I had in the past and present more or less. But also as I mentioned in my answer to the next question, I was a bit inspired by the unstable weather subliminally.
Where did you record the mix?
I recorded in my working room at home, while enjoying the end of the summer like weather in Berlin which had continuous changes of sunshine and darkness with a bit of rain. So I think my mix became a bit like a reflection of this.
What would be the ideal setting to listen to it?
I would listen to it with headphones while walking around in a park, or with decent speakers in a bedroom before sleeping. But it could be anywhere, as long as you enjoy the whole mix.
Are there any tracks you’ve used in the mix that are special or significant to you?
It’s hard to say which one because I just picked up each track which sounded right to my mood while making this mix. Although the emotional level I have for each song is different, the most important thing I cared about when I made this mix was how coherent it could be. I think some dark tracks like ‘The Flood’ or ’Notes from Kyoto’ could vary the whole emotion.
Theory Therapy mixes are often about calming or moving the listener. Is there a particular album, song or mix that does that for you?
Music for Airports by Brian Eno is one of my eternal favourites (and of many people I’m sure) since I encountered this album more than a decade ago. This always gives me different impressions every time I listen to the album, as the track structures are very simple in a perfect sense.
It’s probably a little hard to say right now, but what are your plans for the rest of the year?
I’ll be working on a dance piece I’m invited to work on as a composer for, which is going to be premiered in Kyoto this December. So I actually will have a real long trip from Germany to Japan this Autumn, which should be a surreal experience for me but also exciting at the same time.
Tracklist:
YTAMO - ‘Grasshopper’ [Room40]
Baal & Mortimer - ‘Arthur’s Moon’ [Bureau B]
Brian Eno - ‘Alhondiga’ [All Saints Records]
Christoph Berg - ‘Notes from Kyoto’ [Self-released]
Atsuko Hatano - ‘blind alley’ [Off]
Tenniscoats - ‘光輪(Korin)’ [Alien Transistor]
Tujiko Noriko - ‘Rooftop’ [PAN]
Slow Walkers - ‘The Flood’ [Peak Oil]
Schneider TM - ‘Landslide’ [Bureau B]
Masayoshi Fujita - ‘Story of Waterfall I. & II.’ [Erased Tapes]
Kangding Ray - ‘Palisades’ [Raster]
Jim O’Rourke - ‘I’m Happy, and I’m singing, and a 1,2,3,4’ [Editions Mego]
Midori Hirano - ‘Haiyuki’ [Sonic Pieces]