2026 2.6
Digital / Casette
All sounds by harikuyamaku
Mastered by Taku Unami
Photography by harikuyamaku
Cover Design by Shinichi Suda
Released by ato.archives
ata019
This album was created for being played at the Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa (based in Okinawa) and we appreciate their courtesy to release this work.
Text: ambientalについての覚書
This album is based on two sound pieces originally commissioned by Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa.
In a lounge area near the hotel entrance, there was an installation by YouRuMaru featuring mirrors and light. The music—composed to accompany the artwork—was designed to play gently in the background for about twenty minutes each during the bright hours of the day and the darker hours of the night. Unlike most hotels in Okinawa that boast ocean views, this one is situated deep in the mountains, so I incorporated many environmental sounds recorded in the forests of Mt. Yonaha on Okinawa Island and Mt. Ōtake on Ishigaki Island.
When I was working on this project, I was going through an extremely difficult time in my life, and the production circumstances were quite special. I was caring for my mother, who was terminally ill with cancer, at my family home. In the familiar room where I spent my childhood, I worked anxiously on a laptop with a small MIDI keyboard and earphones. I remember that period vividly—“awaking” and the first half of “kazumi” were made then.
After my mother passed away, I was awaiting the birth of my first daughter. Coincidentally, on the night we held the memorial service marking the 49th day after her death, my wife went into labor. I truly felt it was as if a soul had been reborn. For about five days after the birth, while my wife and daughter were still in the hospital, I regained my will to create. I placed my newly acquired modular synthesizer by the bedroom window, played it through small speakers, sat cross-legged on the tatami, and recorded whenever a good harmony “bit,” like waiting for a fish to take the bait.
Although I have a separate studio at home where I can make as much noise as I like, somehow this quiet setting felt right—perhaps it was my way of preparing to welcome my daughter. The modular setup consisted of just three modules: Mutable Instruments Marbles, Rings, and Plaits.
“yambaru Rain,” “mihane,” “water drops,” and “midnight flow” were the results of this modular “fishing.”
When nothing seemed to “bite,” I played a small 36-key MIDI keyboard, triggering Logic’s internal sounds. What I remember most about that time is that I never re-recorded those takes. Melodies came to me in a single instant—something that rarely happens. The latter half of “kazumi” and “fly into…” were born in that way.
このアルバムはoriental hotel okinawa resort & spaから依頼を受け製作した2つの音源を基にしています。
ホテルのエントランス近くにあるラウンジ空間で YouRuMaru による鏡と光によるアート作品の展示があり、作品を鑑賞しながらささやかに流れる音楽を、明るい時間帯と、暗い時間帯のそれぞれ20分程。海が見所の沖縄では珍しく、山の中にあるホテルですので、沖縄本島にある与那覇岳と石垣島大嵩の山奥で採集した環境音をふんだんに取り入れたものでした。
製作していた頃は自分にとって、とても大変なタイミングと重なっていて、また特殊な製作環境でもありました。
死期が迫った末期癌の母親を実家で看病しながら、子供時代を過ごした馴染みの部屋でノートパソコンとMIDIキーボード、イヤホンでモニターしながら、気が気でない状態で作業していたのを憶えています。awaking、kazumiの前半なんかがその時作ったものです。
母親を看取ってからは、初めての娘の誕生が待っていました。奇しくも49日の法要を終えた夜に陣痛が来たんです。生まれ変わりの様なものだと本気で思っています。出産に立ち会って、妻と娘が戻って来るまでの5日間程、消失していた製作意欲を取り戻し、導入したばかりのモジュラーシンセサイザーを自宅の寝室、窓際に置いて小さなスピーカーで鳴らし、畳の上であぐらをかいて、魚釣りでもするように、良いハーモニーが来るのをじっと待っては録音しました。ちなみに、自宅の離れにはそれなりに鳴らせるスタジオがあるのですが、初めて娘を迎える心の準備なのか、それがしっくりきたんです。モジュールはたった3つ、Mutable Instruments の Marbles/Rings/Plaits です。
yambaru Rain、mihane、water drops、midnight flowはモジュラー釣りの成果です。
釣れない時は36鍵のMIDIキーボードを弾いてlogicの内蔵音源を鳴らしてみました。キーボードで覚えている事は、弾き直さなった事です。あんな一瞬でメロディーが降りてきた事はなかなか無いです。kazumi の後半や fly into… はそうやってできたメロディーです。
