Midori Hirano

Regular readers of East might be able to tell that we love Random Fridays at the De La Warr Pavilion. We’d been craving a high quality leftfield event for quite some time; a night of music which didn’t include the words ‘house’ or ‘urban’ in the title. Sorry House and Urban fans, but you’re well catered for and we needed something a little different, something out of the mainstream, something random.
And since its opening night, back in May, the people at the De La Warr have continued to supply us with a monthly mixture of eccentric and eclectic music, cutting-edge visuals, poetry and whatever else fits into the huge parameters of a night based on randomness. This month, on Friday November 6, Japanese electronic musician Midori Hirano headlines a bill which also features a collaboration between Pete Wareham and Leafcutter John, and a performance from Vocal Explosion, a choir which sings in its own invented language.
‘I think people will be able see the movement of each sound in my performance,’ said Midori when we caught up with her recently. It may be a bold claim, but this is an artist whose music has a very visual essence to it. She has composed for a number of soundtracks, including the 2008 short film, The Measure of Space Between A and B(8), and Takuya Fukui’s 2007 picture, The Tale of Shadow.
‘When I’m making songs I sometimes make visuals in my mind, so maybe this affects my music,’ said Midori.

Born in Japan, but now based in Germany, Midori’s roots lie in classical music. She graduated university with a major in classical piano, but found a creative outlet in electronic music.
‘I felt frustration because I was only studying other people’s music. It left me wanting to make my own music,’ she said.
A friend introduced her to the lovely world of electronic music and showed her how to make her own music using a computer and she hasn’t looked back since, creating atmospheric, at times ambient, electronic compositions, which combine classical and acoustic elements with understated beats.
Her minimalist debut long-player, 2006’s Lush Rush, was followed up last year with klo:yuri, an album Time Magazine described as having the ‘ineffable quality of a dream’.
‘I don’t care about how people describe my music,’ said Midori.
‘I just want people to enjoy it, whether it’s the classical stuff or for the electronic style.’