OTONOMA - Midori Hirano

The artistry of Midori Hirano lives in the resonance between sonic and visual worlds. Over her distinguished career the Berlin-based, Kyoto-born composer, pianist, and synthesist has crafted a distinctive voice straddling the spheres of classical music and harmonies with abstraction and invention. In addition to works under her own name, Hirano has released dynamic experiments under her MimiCof moniker as well as composed for film, television, art exhibitions and world expos. Hirano is acclaimed for crafting emotive works that stimulate all the senses with impressionism, or painting with sound. OTONOMA is the culmination of her work synthesizing these elements and highlights her acumen as a practiced and intuitive artist. The album infuses Hirano’s more classical sense of harmony on the piano with the endless textural possibilities of synthesizers. Like nebulas coalescing into galaxies, the pieces of OTONOMA emanate hues dense with subtle layers of color folded into gradients, arresting and radiant.

Hirano began her musical life learning piano and classical forms, eventually extending into more experimental territory with analog and modular synthesizers. The creation of OTONOMA found Hirano merging the distinct phases and parallel journeys in her music – both under her own name and as MimiCof – into a wholly realized voice. The album sculpts her divergent musical identities into complimentary forces, infusing her more classical sense of harmony on the piano with the endless textural possibilities of synthesizers. In Japanese the word “Oto” means “sound” and “Ma” refers to the “space” or “interval” between things. So, “Otonoma” literally means “the space between sounds.” In classical usage, “Ma” can also mean “room” which allows a different reading, “a room of sounds”. “I titled the album with the hope that listeners would move through these different spaces of sound as they listen,” Hirano notes. “Like moving through rooms, the album showcases my various sound palettes.”

The pieces that compose OTONOMA offer a playful blend of spontaneity and precise compositional intent. Hirano employs variable sequencers and modular synth patches with varied sound patterns, a counter point to her curious melodies. “Illuminance,” a foundational track on the album, has rich textures and a searching modular synth. Her emphasis on analog synth textures and intertwining that with piano creates and the varied timing is a signature of the atmosphere of Otonoma. “Ame, Hikari” was initially composed for a photo exhibition of Japanese artist Rinko Kawauchi’s work at Fotografiska Berlin and captures the rain (ame) and light (hikari) of Kawauchi’s photos. The stately lone piano of “Rainwalk” offers a minimalist, affecting snapshot of a moment in time while pieces like “Aurora” take a more wide-eyed, macrocosmic view with fluttering electronics and a surging drone.

Throughout OTONOMA, Hirano’s compositions seep over their sonic borders and through the complex intersection of rhythm & tone are an affecting listen. The intersection between sound and space embodies the architecture of this beautiful impressionistic album. In the deft hands of its architect, Midori Hirano, the music is remarkable for its reflective and connective beauty, a sensational sensorial experience.