Soundscapes Radio
from sound artist SJF
Soundscapes Radio is a monthly broadcast of brand new music, field recordings and sonic sketches. Each episode is at least 30 minutes of new music written entirely from scratch each month. My influences span all music genres but the result is loosely tied to what is probably best described as 'ambient'. This is music for late-night contemplation sessions.
To be expected: field recordings, dark drones, shimmering strings & lush clouds of sound.
To be expected: field recordings, dark drones, shimmering strings & lush clouds of sound.
A new episode is premiered on the first Friday of the month at 7pm (JST).
Episode nine was born out of the reflective pause that everyone found themselves in during the Coronavirus crisis. This uncertain time seems to have bred a great deal of creativity in a lot of people which is fantastic to see and a positive to all the negative.
In episode eight I wanted to take the listener on a journey through moments of beauty and solitude. An introspective late-night amble through deserted streets, over rivers and canals with the soft scent of autumn in the air. The sounds ebb and flow throughout the entirety of the episode.
In episode seven I took on the challenge of writing a 30-minute piece within a single motif. The piano melody from the beginning remains throughout the entire piece but doesn't loop even once. The composition has three movements and remains coherently tied together to this theme.
The title of this suite, The Cloud Nocturnes, gives a nod to both György Ligeti and his concept of creating "Cloud"-like textures with the orchestra and the "Nocturne" compositions by Chopin & Debussy et al.; i.e. music inspired by, or evocative, of the night.
In episode six I drew on heavy inspiration from a trip I took to Kyoto in early August. The second movement, Shinrin Yoku (森林浴), is a Japanese phrase that loosely translates to 'forest bathing' in English. It's no secret that the antidote to the anxieties of city living is getting out into nature often and so I ran with this theme for episode six to see where it would take me.
Episode five features a recording I captured in the carillon bell tower at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand. I was fortunate enough to be granted a rare visit into the bell-fry where the 12 and a half tonne Peace bell resides; the largest tuned bell in the southern hemisphere.
Episode two is the point where I began to experiment with writing a continuous piece of music with no gaps in audio; one track flowing seamlessly into the next. Episode two's opener, DERIVE Kyoto, is another homage to one of the most beautiful and interesting cities on earth.
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