Hinako Omori

Today Hinako Omori announces her new album ‘stillness, softness…’ for release on October 27th through Houndstooth, with new single & video “cyanotype memories” – online now.
 
For Hinako Omori, synthesisers are a portal to the subconscious. Far from being sterile or austere, “synths really do respond to how you’re feeling,” says the London-based artist, producer and composer. “There have been times where I’ve felt stressed and my synth would go out of tune. I took it to a repair place once, thinking that something was wrong with it, but it was fine; I think it was to do with my energy levels. So when I sit down and write something, whatever comes out is relevant to how I feel in that moment because the synthesiser is responding to it. The music really becomes a map of my emotions.”
 
If her highly critically acclaimed debut ‘a journey…’ (2022, Houndstooth) was about healing others with its soothing sounds, Omori’s next album unexpectedly became one of healing herself. Looking back at the lyrics to ‘stillness, softness…,’ “it was very much an inner journey of uncovering stuck points within myself and coming to a sense of peace with them,” she says. Omori was particularly taken by the idea of our shadow selves – the dark parts of ourselves that we keep hidden – and the need to reconcile with them in order to break free. “The relationship with ourselves is consistent, and when it's healed, wonderful things can come from that,” she adds.
 
Embodying this with a hushed optimism, Hinako says new single "cyanotype memories” is “about reconnecting and returning to our inner stillness, and surrendering to the unknown. We ultimately don’t have control over how anything external might pan out, but when we trust our inner compass things seem to be revealed to us in the most beautiful and unexpected way.”
 
She continues, “I was also fascinated by the idea of cyanotype printing. The act of placing an object on paper, and exposing it to UV light - the longer the object is focused under the light, a stronger or more detailed image can form on the paper. I thought there was a similarity in focusing and redirecting our thoughts to create new neural pathways in our brains, with the repetition of these thoughts creating stronger paths.”
 
The Man Ray-inspired album artwork was created by Emi Takahashi, who cyanotype printed a photo taken by Luca Bailey – pictured below.

The track comes with a captivating video featuring contemporary dancer Chihiro Kawasaki, directed by Thomas Harrington Rawle and Cathal Mckeon. Harrington Rawle explains the process saying: "I've worked with Hinako on her live visuals a few times and we wanted to further extend that world in collaboration with Chihiro Kawasaki. Hinako and I discussed the idea exploring silhouettes through dance and post processing FX, creating a void atmosphere that is revealed only through thin bolts of light - Chihiro improvised to the lights which were programmed live by Richard Brade.”
 
“cyanotype memories” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rB3Ah_a1yzo
‘stillness, softness…’ pre-save/pre-order links: https://hth.lnk.to/stillness-softness
 
Since 2022’s critically acclaimed debut album, ‘a journey…’, Hinako Omori has fast become one of the UK’s most compelling breakthrough musicians, blurring the lines between classical, electronic and ambient. A concept album inspired by the ancient Japanese ritual of forest bathing, a journey…’s lush textures, rooted in nature, were called “remarkable” by Pitchfork and received heavy rotation on BBC 6Music. Omori’s potent blend of therapeutic frequencies, drones and her ethereal falsetto connected: she has since supported Beth Orton, Anna Meredith and Ichiko Aoba, played with a 60-piece orchestra for BBC Radio 3’s Unclassified and, later this year, will join Floating Points’ esteemed ensemble at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles to perform Promises, his collaborative album with the late Pharoah Sanders.
 
‘stillness, softness…’ explores a new sonic range within Omori’s world of analogue synths – namely, her Prophet ’08, the Moog Voyager and UDO Super 6, an analogue hybrid synthesizer that creates binaural, 3D-simulating sound. The album is darker, more expansive and more noirishly theatrical than her previous work. Whereas Omori’s debut was largely instrumental, here the vocals are front and centre – “it’s more vulnerable,” she nods – as she opens up on themes of dreams versus reality, solitude, reconnecting with who you are and, ultimately, finding strength in yourself.
 
Omori calls ‘stillness, softness…’ “a collage of experiments” which she then pieced together “like a puzzle”, each song representing a memory room. The end result is seamless, a continuous cycle of 13 vignettes that flow in and out of each other, recorded and written between her bedroom in London and her grandmother’s house in Yokohama, Japan. “It was very DIY,” she laughs. “I was whispering into the microphone because I didn’t want to wake anyone up.”
 
Omori was born in Japan but grew up in south London and studied sound engineering at the University of Surrey. Her interest in machine music began before that, in college, thanks to a teacher who introduced his class to analogue synthesizers. “It sparked a curiosity in me,” says Omori. “I grew up learning classical piano, and the minute I came across synthesizers for the first time it completely drew me in. With a synth, you get to truly sculpt the sound: it opened up all these endless possibilities for expression that I had never even thought about before.”
 
After university, she joined the touring bands for both indie musicians and arena acts including EOB, James Bay, KT Tunstall, Georgia and Kae Tempest, the latter of whom Omori still plays with regularly. “I’ve learned so much from those experiences,” says Omori. “If it wasn’t for working with these wonderful artists, I don't think I would have had the confidence to do what I’m doing now.” Her confidence, she says, is still a work in progress, which is partly what the album speaks to. Its title might be ‘stillness, softness…’ but the album is actually about making yourself uncomfortable in order to grow. “It’s about embracing the things that we want to hide away from, and that we feel ashamed of,” she says.
 
The album on the whole is Omori’s most accessible yet, and one that evidences her true range as a composer, artist, arranger, vocalist and synth virtuoso. It closes with the title track, completing the cycle. “I wanted it to evoke a state of peace that you reach within yourself,” says Omori. “I think of it as a blanket of sorts, very gentle, very calming.” That softness, she says, is the ultimate strength – and one that will guide us through life with love and compassion for ourselves and others.