Album Release Date: May 21, 2020

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Emergence From Awai: Music For Helio Compass 2021 is a 50-minute grand musical score by Hiroki Okano featuring AKIRA∞IKEDA

“This 2021 version of the HELIO COMPASS music series is now the fifth collaboration with Hiroki Okano, Japan’s leading ambient music composer. Through this project, we have strived to craft unconventional musical works by rendering the one-year movement of the entire solar system to a grand musical score. The fourth work, entitled Quantum Leap Breeze: Music For Helio Compass 2020,stirred up the global ambient music scene. Even though this recording spans a lengthy 50 minutes,many radio stations in the U.S.A. aired the work in full, while in the U.K. it reached number 13 on the ambient music chart. We are delighted to see this series blazing a new trail in the world of music. 

This entire composition features an arrangement of sounds every few seconds. Each and every sound perfectly coincides with this year’s astronomical events, such as the twenty four seasonal divisions and the moon phases, as well as planetary alignments. Opening with a sound to ring in the Vernal Equinox,the music goes on, past the Autumnal Equinox halfway through its course, to complete a full-circle journey from the year 2021 to 2022. As one single breath is likened to a human life, this one piece of music represents the one-year cycle of the vastness of time and space.

Thanks to AKIRA∞IKEDA, the Kyoto-based musician who collaborated with Helio Compass in this recording. The entire composition strikes the perfect balance between the sounds created by these two talented artists. The music they perform is harmonized with the sounds of nature, such as songs of Japanese bush warblers in Kitayama, Kyoto; the babbling of a brook in Yakushima; insects chirping in the Three Mountains of Dewa; the sounds of sudden showers in the tropic and waves in Maui; and the songs of whales. It is as though their music resonates the spirit of all life on Earth.

Since the beginning of the year 2020, we have been facing unprecedented challenges, such as natural disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic, and political and economical tensions. It is certain that these moments signify a major turning point globally. We are pleased to release the 2021 version,envisioning our new future in which humankind will work in cooperation on this planet, in our universe” – Hiroki Okano

CREDITS
Music by Hiroki Okano, featuring AKIRA∞IKEDA
Natural sound designed by Hiroki Okano
Natural sound recorded by Hiroki Okano, AKIRA∞IKEDA, Satoru Nakada, Hiroyuki Nakano
Recorded by Hiroki Okano, AKIRA∞IKEDA
Mixed by Hiroki Okano
Mastered by Hiroki Okano, Daichi Yuhara (Studio You)
Additional musicians: Miwafuku, Junko Okano
Concept designed by Kaichi Sugiyama 
Illustrated & Designed by Emi Sugiyama
Translation by Sayako Kidokoro (TRUNK)  
Collaboration Partner: Ecological Memes Global Forum 2021 
Emergence From AWAI: Regenerating Human-Nonhuman Relations