✷ "a journey..." album out now via Houndstooth ✷ http://hth.lnk.to/Hinako

(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞

a journey...

Moog Sound Circus

(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ 
read 'rivers/water' : https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/reader/articles/rivers-water/
digital : https://hinakoomori.bandcamp.com/album/studies-on-a-river
limited edition vinyl : https://boomkat.com/products/studies-on-a-river

All tracks written & produced by Hinako Omori
Words from 'Rivers / Water' by Hana Pera Aoake
Commissioned by Hanna Girma for Serpentine Reader, 2025
Mastered (digital) by Cicely Balston @ Abbey Road
Vinyl Manufactured by Audiowax

Studies on a River

[ voyage // teleport ]

Japanese born, London-based artist @hinakoomori has announced details of her forthcoming debut full-length album, ‘a journey…’, to be released on March 18th. The release will be celebrated with a special performance on March 19th in the Purcell Room at London’s Southbank Centre accompanied by London Contemporary Orchestra.

'a journey...' sees Omori experimenting with the physical and psychological effects of different frequencies, meditating on healing and soothing sounds and taking inspiration from the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest-bathing. It's a delicate and warm record, glistening with light, as Hinako's otherworldly vocals drift over organic textures carved from field recordings and analogue electronics.
 
Today she shares the album’s title track "A Journey", where gauzy voices drift and gather across electronic plains, describing it as “a journey through the cartography of the mind, piecing together past events which seem to appear differently each time - revisiting memories, and healing cognitive distortions”
 
The accompanying video, created by Emi Takahashi, (http://emitakahashi.ca) captures the peaceful essence of nature and soothing glow found within the music. Takahashi comments: “The video is an ode to the lush and immersive soundscape. Inspired and guided by nature, the collected footage captures environmental glimpses that evoke fragments of personal memory. A risograph-printed analog treatment echoes the voice in fleeting moments.”

“A Journey” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Kw9bVXKYE1g

A Journey

Hinako Omori - A Journey

180gm white vinyl edition of 500 copies - deluxe printed inners / CD / Digital
https://hth.lnk.to/Hinako

London-based artist Hinako Omori has announced details of her forthcoming debut full-length album, ‘a journey…’, to be released on March 18th. The release will be celebrated with a special performance on March 19th in the Purcell Room at London’s Southbank Centre accompanied by London Contemporary Orchestra.


"In this song, I borrowed the beautiful words from a poem by my friend and poet/philosopher Emily R Grosholz and put them to music. I met Emily when we sat next to each other on a plane to Philadelphia in 2018 - since then we reconnected online and have  been sharing work with each other."

"Emily very kindly sent me a book of hers called “Great Circles: The Transits of Mathematics and Poetry” which I just fell in love with - she travels all over the world hosting lectures, and much of her writing and poetry also incorporates tales from her travels. “The Richest Garden in your Memory” immediately stood out to me and I couldn’t stop thinking about it - so it inspired me to set the words to a melody, and interestingly, it was the quickest composition to come about on the whole record."

Artist: Hinako Omori
https://linktr.ee/hinakoomori

Poem written by: Emily Grosholz
http://www.emilygrosholz.com

Label: Houndstooth
https://linktr.ee/houndstooth

Artwork: Emi Takahashi
http://emitakahashi.ca

Lyrics:

Forget, for food improvident and spare
The richest garden in your memory;
Bring down the white fruit from the tree
Which is too heavy for the tree to bear.

The richest garden in your memory
You shall begin to change, with that despair
Which is too heavy for the tree to bear,
The secret vision that you are not free.

You shall begin to change with that despair,
The moon that skews the circle of the sea.
The secret vision that you are not free
Is no less true for wisdom, no less fair.

The moon that skews the circle of the sea,
Promises of apples hung among the air,
Is no less true for wisdom, no less fair;
Weigh them, silver in your hand, for me.

Poem by Emily Grosholz
(published in: Great Circles: The Transits of Mathematics and Poetry by Emily Grosholz, Springer 2018, pages 20-21)

The Richest Garden in your Memory

BUY / STREAM

Hinako Omori - The Richest Garden in your Memory

"It’s the last song on the album - a love letter to anyone that might need it."

180gm white vinyl edition of 500 copies - deluxe printed inners / CD / Digital    https://hth.lnk.to/Hinako

London-based artist Hinako Omori releases her debut full-length album, ‘a journey…’ on March 18th. The release will be celebrated with a special performance on March 19th in the Purcell Room at London’s Southbank Centre accompanied by London Contemporary Orchestra.

Artist: Hinako Omori
https://linktr.ee/hinakoomori

Label: Houndstooth
https://linktr.ee/houndstooth

Artwork: Emi Takahashi
http://emitakahashi.ca

Lyrics:

"I tried to visualise
what it was like through
your eyes
 
But all I could see
closed in on me
 
the fragility
 
I wish I could let you know
that every passing moment
will fall like the snow
 
Not settling
disappearing without a trace
before you
 
Let me be your eyes
let me guide your light 
through the darkness
 
Let me be your eyes
let me shine a light
on your darkness
 
I promise there’s a way"

Snow

Hinako Omori - Snow

Spaceship Lament

Ocean

Will You Listen In

Yearning

Moog Music presents selected parts of performances recorded in the Moog Sound Circus tent during Superbooth 2021, Berlin. Amazing artists like Hinako Omori, Dorit Chrysler, Panic Girl, Marta De Pascalis, and Emme Moises created inspiring pieces specially for the occasion. Each set was composed and performed using Moog Matriarch, among other electronic instruments. Discover the universe of each artist and the energy they created through their compositions.

Hinako Omori (Superbooth '21 Performance)

a journey with friends...

Ocean (Coby Sey Remix)

in full bloom

stillness, softness...

both directions ?

ember

stillness, softness

cyanotype memories

epilogue…

cyanotype memories (Joe Goddard Remix)

cyanotype memories - edit (Joe Goddard Remix)

foundation

foundation (Claire Rousay Remix)

stillness, softness (Kloxii Li Remix)

“At the end of 2024 I was invited by Hanna Girma at Serpentine Galleries to write a piece of music for the first issue of their publication "Serpentine Reader" - a collection of texts from various authors on the theme of circulation.

I was immediately drawn to Hana Pera Aoake’s essay on listening to a river - there was a line that especially resonated with me about how rivers and other waterways in Hana's native Aotearoa are "conceptualised as both or either atua (gods) or living ancestors, who have their own life force and spiritual strength". In Japan, water is also deeply instilled in our culture as a sacred source - as one example, we cleanse ourselves with water at the entrance of a shrine, to purify the body and mind.

The composition is made of three studies relating to the three sections of a river, weaving together synthesizer soundscapes and field recordings from various sources of water between Yugawara, Kyoto and Osaka - starting with the upper section, the waterfall, travelling down to the middle, broader section where it slows in pace, and finally the lower section where the river eventually meets the sea.

Each study is in 3/4 time broken up into 9 cycles of 9 bars, and the set of three studies musically runs 12 minutes in total. The pace of each study relates to the velocity of the water in each section of the river - the first study incorporates different synth motifs, and the second and third are made of recycled material from the first.” - Hinako Omori 

Vinyl available via the Good Morning Tapes Online store:
https://www.goodmorningtapes.com/products/gmv27-hinako-omori-studies-on-a-river-lp

Distributed by Boomkat

All tracks written & produced by Hinako Omori
Words from 'Rivers / Water' by Hana Pera Aoake
Mastered (digital) by Cicely Balston @ Abbey Road
Commissioned by Hanna Girma for Serpentine Reader, 2025
Vinyl Manufactured by Audiowax

Hinako Omori - Studies on a River - pt.III - lower

Hinako Omori - Studies on a River (full - instrumental)

Hinako Omori - Studies on a River (full - with narration)

Hinako Omori - Studies on a River - pt.II - middle

For our final release of 2025, we are extremely honoured to announce London-based Japanese musician Hinako Omori’s beautifully centring 'Studies On A River' - featuring spoken word from Hana Pera Aoake (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Hinerangi, Tainui/Waikato), a Māori artist, poet, writer and curator.

To explain this unique collaboration in more detail, here’s some direct insight from @hinakoomori

"At the end of 2024 I was invited by Hanna Girma at Serpentine Galleries to write a piece of music for the first issue of their publication "Serpentine Reader" - a collection of texts from various authors on the theme of circulation.

I was immediately drawn to Hana Pera Aoake’s essay on listening to a river - there was a line that especially resonated with me about how rivers and other waterways in Hana's native Aotearoa are "conceptualised as both or either atua (gods) or living ancestors, who have their own life force and spiritual strength". In Japan, water is also deeply instilled in our culture as a sacred source - as one example, we cleanse ourselves with water at the entrance of a shrine, to purify the body and mind.

The composition is made of three studies relating to the three sections of a river, weaving together synthesizer soundscapes and field recordings from various sources of water between Yugawara, Kyoto and Osaka - starting with the upper section, the waterfall, travelling down to the middle, broader section where it slows in pace, and finally the lower section where the river eventually meets the sea.

Each study is in 3/4 time broken up into 9 cycles of 9 bars, and the set of three studies musically runs 12 minutes in total. The pace of each study relates to the velocity of the water in each section of the river - the first study incorporates different synth motifs, and the second and third are made of recycled material from the first.”

The limited edition vinyl is now available via our online store, distributed by Boomkat, and the digital release can be purchased via Bandcamp and Nina Protocol.

A big, heartfelt thank you to Hinako, Hana, Serpentine Galleries and Audiowax for bringing this special release together.

All tracks written & produced by Hinako Omori
Words from 'Rivers / Water' by Hana Pera Aoake
Mastered (digital) by Cicely Balston @ Abbey Road
Commissioned by Hanna Girma for Serpentine Reader, 2025
Vinyl Manufactured by Audiowax

Hinako Omori - Studies on a River - pt.I - upper

released on OCEAN 09/05/19

voyage live on novation summit : youtu.be/cdhNcEiYGiA

voyage

teleporting through the atmosphere //
leaving your legacy behind

released on OCEAN 09/05/19

teleport

www.hinakoomori.com
www.instagram.com/hinakoomori

Debut EP Auraelia released on 22nd November via Injazero Records.

Buy the EP here >>> http://bit.ly/auraeliabc

Co-mixed by Peter Lyons. ❤️
Mastered by Cicely Balston. ❤️
Artwork by Gustavo Eandi. ❤️

Auraelia

Buy EP

auraelia.

大森日向子
✉️  : hello@hinakoomori.com
♫꒰･◡･๑꒱

hinako omori

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks