Miki Yui: small sounds

Navel-Gazers #66 is an interview with Miki Yui who is going to talk to us about small sounds. One thing I can scarcely resist is an album comprised of numerous very short pieces of music. It’s an inviting format, perhaps subconsciously because some part of us imagines - accurately assesses, in many cases - that maybe, we can drop in to sample a track or two and get the flavour without listening to the whole thing! But the impression of this even being the format is somewhat illusory in the case of ‘small sounds’ - none of its tracks is under one minute, in fact one is over seven minutes long. It’s perhaps something about that title - and the brief track titles - which reads back like such a succession of vignettes, and yet simultaneously seems to suggest that we’re very much meant to listen to the whole thing, in sequence. And to my ears, this is where the reward lies for the listener: the enchantment of ‘small sounds’ lies in the contrast between different pieces as the whole thing transpires from beginning to end. From Miki’s perspective, it was her debut album, released on a German label called BmB lab in 1999, and she still regards it as the core of her work, which is interesting to know since her newer work seems quite different. So with that, let’s find out where ’small sounds’ came from, and what came of it!

AC: Thanks for joining me on Navel-Gazers! We’ve chosen to talk about ‘small sounds’ which was your first album, so what was your background leading up to that? You are from Tokyo, how did you come to be an artist and how did you come to be based in Germany?

Miki Yui: Thanks for your invitation to Navel Gazers!

In my childhood, I was often sick, missed school and spent time in my bed. I loved reading books or be in my imaginary world.

My grandmother was an artist and my grandfather was an actor, their creative way to live and enjoy the life had inspired me.

From age of thirteen to fifteen, I lived in Berkley California with my family, where I encountered for the first time diverse cultures, changed my perspective. I decided for myself to live abroad in a country outside Japan, once I am grown up.

It was because of the exhibition of the German artist Joseph Beuys, I felt deeply touched and curious, I decided to go Düsseldorf. After graduating from Tama Art University in Tokyo, where I studied craft design, I left Tokyo with a backpack to Düsseldorf, without any plans.

It was in the summer 1994 I arrived in Düsseldorf, then from 1995 I started studying at Art Academy Of Düsseldorf. First time to study contemporary art, to live by my own in a foreign culture, experience the new kind of electronic music scene that was emerging in the mid nineties, everything was new, confusing and so exciting.

At the Art Academy, I studied with the professor, an American artist Nan Hoover. I started using video as the artistic medium, eventually in the process of creation I became more interested in the sound than the visual. I started to record sounds I found in my daily life, listening those recordings opened my ears.

To be able to learn to work with sounds, I entered in Media Art Academy in Cologne in 1997. At the school there was the professional sound studio, and the „Klanglabor“ installed by professor Anthony Moore for students to experiment with sounds, to create sound installations.

After years of searching the artistic medium, I finally found the sound.

Immersed in exploring the potential of sounds as an artistic medium - I started making field recordings, playing on a sampler, synthesizer or making sounds with some object. Actively „Listening“ opened the new door in my perception of the world.

I have no musical background, so my approach in working with sounds was similar to sculptural process, listening to sounds and transforming them intuitively.

Without much knowledge of sound recording in beforehand, mostly learning by doing, I created my first album „small sounds“ which was released on CD in 1999.

„small sounds“ were meant to be played back in a quiet volume, randomly or in loop, they fuse with the sound of the listeners environment and inviting to discover „musical quality“ of their environment.

At the time I finished the Media Art Academy in 2002, I was together with the artist and musician Klaus Dinger (NEU! / La Düsseldorf). It was him who convinced me to go on my path as an artist, to get a freelance visa as an artist. Financially it was very difficult, but I kept me busy and I did not think about any other option.

AC: Could you tell us how this album was conceived exactly? Did you have the format and/or the “small sounds” title - and/or the intention to release an album to begin with - decided at the outset, or did those things arise later? Do you recall what were the first pieces you started, the last ones you finished?

Miki Yui: Well, "small sounds" was made 26 years ago, some details are vague now, but somethings are still very alive in me.

"small sounds" is conceived through several experiences I made while studying at the Media Art Academy.

I was discovering sounds, through recording objects, making field recordings and experimenting and editing on Pro Tools, intuitively - the process of learning to create through listening.

There were two significant experiences that lead to the album "small sounds":::

First: Piezzos as speakers, a swiss sound artist Andres Bosshard introduced me to Piezzos. Though very small and thin, the sound Piezzos emits is high frequency, delicate and clearly present in the space - similar to the sounds of birds or insects. Fascinated by the unique quality of the sound, I used Piezzos as speakers to play live and to create installation pieces.

Second: I remember when i was a child staying in bed instead of going to school, little bored and half asleep, sounds from outside came through a window. Among others, calling of a pigeon came into my ears. I hate pigeons’ call, especially in the city. I breathe with the sound, counting the calls until it stops, the end gave me a bad after taste that is difficult to digest.

I tried to erase the calling of pigeon from my ears. Try to concentrate on something else, say sound of my breathe, but still the pigeon was there in the background, and the sound of car from the street, winds …

Suddenly, my ears got defocused in a strange way, that i heard all sorts of sounds as one. calling of pigeon, cars passing by wind, my breathe or the subtle noise which my bed cover makes, there was no difference in distance, all became one sound. Nothing could be separated, and I was a part of the whole.

:::

My debut album "small sounds", the title and the idea were kind of clear from very early stage of the production.

Through my concert I met a label in Cologne, BmB Lab, who released the album as CD.

As an inlay in the CD, I wrote a short poem like text, a friend a graphic desinger, S.C.L. had designed the beautiful inlay. The CD cover was made of beige industrial felt, which I glued and stamped the edition numbers on each by myself, the whole object carried the message of "small sound".

I don't remember exactly which was the first piece or last piece I made for the album, but Beau wien, Balloon were the first ones.

Some pieces have emerged after my journey to foreign places like Vienna ('Beau Wien'), Pisa (Liberta) or North Vietnam (Mong).

Also experiencing different microphones, the sound was the door to the new world for me. The diving into the alternate spaces that sounds offered me and the intimate feeling being inside sounds, lead me to create "small sounds".

The CD has the possibility to play in random or loop. I was curious, by letting these fragments of acoustic memories into actual spaces of the listener, if any transformation of the perception towards our environment is possible.

AC: It certainly transformed my perception of the room I was in, so I think you succeeded!

There are a few individual tracks I’d like to ask about.

Firstly track 3 Boat: the soundscape is complex, I really have no idea what I’m hearing. I don’t think it’s a boat!

On track 9 'Liberta', which is the longest, you’ve said emerged after a trip to Pisa. There’s a lot going on here, with an outdoor ambience through much of it. What are we hearing?

Track 11 Nomu has a certain “crumby” texture which makes me think of an artist who previously appeared on Navel-Gazers named Fangyi Liu. In that case I had been convinced he was recording on tape but it was surprisingly digital. What is making ‘Nomu’ sound like that?

Lastly track 14, Venti, I’m curious whether there’s a location this was recorded at, I thought at first of a train station…? with that title, maybe we are back in Pisa? or maybe a Starbucks, haha. (Or maybe both!)

Miki Yui: Oh I am so happy to hear that "small sounds" was perceived in the way I imagined.

First, I always avoid explaining what the piece "really" is, it is indeed difficult to describe.

Once done, each piece has its own life (a pretty complex one) and it changes depending on the listener, on the time and the space.

All is relative.

I believe that good music gives listeners the space to imagine, to come to "the feeling" that is beyond description.

Second, I am very intuitive in many ways. The titles I give to my pieces are either very direct, as in the case of "Liberta" and "Mong", or very abstract and without any logic like "Boat". So never mind the titles.

"small sound" is like a sound poem, which is made with unique sound languages.

Its texture, its color, the rhythm or the movement all together transmit certain feeling or even kind of a narrative.

Each listener may see different pictures, stories or landscapes in the piece, based on their own experiences, memories.

"small sound" is layered memories of sounds that interact with listener's memories.

Anyway, I don't want to turn you down, so here are some stories to your question.

'Boat' I must admit that most pieces I created, I don't know how they were made once an album is done.

I don't really know why this is called 'Boat'.

It is one of my favorite piece, I don't hear the boat, but I see a boat in it.

'Liberta' I was supposed to meet an friend in Pisa, but his telephone line didn't work. So I was waiting for him for hours at a Piazza. There was a loud demonstration of Roma people. I could not understand what they were calling, except "Liberta!".

I was recording and observing the movement of people, felt the warmth of the sunshine, just be in a time of void.

A small girl came to me and asked "What is your name?"

I could not answer.

'Nomu' I think it was the stethoscope I had that was the initial point. I recorded through the stethoscope, with small microphone in the tube. I was curious of internal sound of a body, not only human body, but any material body.

Sometimes I experience sounds around me that sound similar to our internal sounds.

'Venti'... Again, no idea why it is called "Venti". Starbucks did not exist at that time in 1999, at least not in my neighborhood - this piece definitely feels like accelerated state though.

AC: It seems that in some ways, I perceived this album as intended. On the other hand, you mentioned a couple of times that you pictured people listening randomly or in a loop - that was my first instinct, but then I ended up gravitating back to the original sequence.

Your website describes your work as investigating a grey zone between the real and the imaginary. Could you elaborate on that? ’small sounds’ seems to dwell in that grey zone, do you think of it that way?

What do you think art is all about generally, why do you do it?

Miki Yui: In original Sequence, loop or random, "small sounds" is open for any possiblities.

Regarding " a grey zone" could be "unconscious -" or "subconsious zone", I used to say "the state of half asleep".

I feel our imagination is like a bridge between consciousness and unconsciousness / subconsciousness.

"small sounds" is meant to be a trigger for listener's imagination.

Imagination can have an empathetic effect, so these "small sounds" are potentially an guide to feel inside the entangled sound cosmos around us.

(I hope the explanation makes sense for you... I am not a scientist, these are just my own experiences)

Art is in our heart, in our head, also in our hands and feet - Art in our whole body. It is a tool to communicate with oneself, with others, or with any matter.

It moves us, transports us to other worldly places, it is like microscope or telescope. It heals, it makes us curious, think, laugh or cry.

If "creativity" is another organ in our body, art feed us, gives us the energy.

Why I do art... I can't really do anything else, I am not good in creating practical things.

AC: What a great description of art, I would encourage our readers to re-read that and let it sink in!

In recent years your music has evolved with ventures into a new area, modular synthesis. Do you think we can still detect the roots of 'small sounds' in this current work?

What are you working on next, do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to mention or parting thoughts for us?

Miki Yui: My recent works seem to me that I am zooming out and looking at an overview of the activities of "small sounds" inside a landscape - urban or not, microscopic or macroscopic levels.

Also the narrative tension in my music, which may have been slightly under the surface in "small sounds" becomes now more present.

If "small sounds" is a sound poetry, the recent work is like essay or a novel.

The use of modular synthesis has started after my first visit in the rain forest in Manaus Brazil in 2018. Listening to the sounds in the forest I felt like coming back home. Not only me as a human being, but also with my music, I felt deeply connected to the forest.

Few years later, in middle of the pandemic, I was intrigued by particular sound of an oscillator. I start to use modular synthesis not only because of the quality of the sound but also its interdependent and unpredictable way of creating sounds, sometimes it feels like exploring in the rain forest while listening to the modular synthesizer.

Right now, I am working on my new album for the label Faitiche in Berlin, hopefully it will be released next year.

Apart from it, I am working on a commission work, a multi channel audio installation "Plant Music" in a subway station in Düsseldorf. "Plant Music" has the two meaning "music that grows like a plant", and "to plant music". The piece is growing since 2021, has been shown in different format in different places. The idea of "small sounds" is still very much alive in this piece - it creates "another environment" that interact with the sounds within a subway station, it reveals (or weaves together) the relationships inside the existing environment.

Through July and August, I will be at an artist in residence in Salvador, Brazil for an artistic research on the theme of ecology.

I will investigate habitat of trees, meet and talk with people who lives and works with those trees.

AC: I'll be keeping an eye out! Thanks for talking to me.

Miki can be found at http://www.mikiyui.com/.

Images

0) "Small Sounds" cover (Sandra Carla Lutz / Miki Yui).

1) Image by Klaus Dinger.

2) Drawing by Miki Yui.

3) Image by Luis Cruz.

4) Small Sounds" inlay (Sandra Carla Lutz / Miki Yui).

5) Image by Echo Ho.

6) Image by Luis Cruz.

7) Image by Stefan Schneider.

8) Image by Miki Yui.

9) Image by Carina Khorkhordina.

10) Image by Klaus Dinger.