Home Surround
Hiroshi Yoshimura
Surround
Temporal Drift
DRFT09
- First-ever official reissue of the pioneering 1986 ambient work
- Produced in full cooperation with Hiroshi Yoshimura’s estate
- New liner notes by original album producer Hiroyoshi Shiokawa
- Includes Yoshimura’s original notes in Japanese & English
- Remastering and lacquer cutting by John Baldwin
- Vinyl pressed at Gotta Groove Records
- AVAILABLE ON BLACK VINYL OR CD
- NO WHOLESALE ORDERS TO JAPAN
Description
“If Surround can be listened to as music that’s as close to air itself, allowing us to enter each listener’s sound scenery, or as something that exists within a new perspective, expanding the middle ground between sound and music, and transforming it into a comfortable space, it would be much appreciated.” — Hiroshi Yoshimura
Temporal Drift proudly presents the long-awaited, first-ever reissue of Surround, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s sought-after ambient classic.
Originally released as an album in January 1986, Surround was recorded by Yoshimura as a commission from home builder Misawa Homes, intended to function as an “amenity” designed to enhance the company’s newly built living spaces. A pioneer in the field of environmental music, Yoshimura’s previous works included Music For Nine Post Cards (1982), originally produced to be played back inside a museum space, and designing sound environments for public spaces and subway systems. Surround was recorded almost concurrently with the acclaimed and popular GREEN (1986); the two albums are described by Hiroyoshi Shiokawa in his liner notes as being Yoshimura’s yin and yang.
In his original notes for the album, Yoshimura recommends that Surround be placed in the same family of sounds “as the vibration of footsteps, the hum of an air conditioner, or the clanging of a spoon inside a coffee cup.” And, as he suggests, “with the addition of city noise from outside the window,” you may hear Surround in a completely new way.
Artist Bio
Barely known outside of his home country during his lifetime, the late Japanese ambient music pioneer Hiroshi Yoshimura has seen his global stature rise steadily in the past few years.
Known for his sound design and environmental music, Yoshimura worked on a number of commissions following the 1982 release of Music For Nine Post Cards, including works for museums, galleries, public spaces, TV shows, video art, fashion shows, and even a cosmetics company. His music has received much critical acclaim. In 2018, Crack Magazine selected his albums Green and Music For Nine Post Cards as the number 1 and number 7th most essential Japanese ambient albums, respectively. Malcolm Standing for Demo Magazine referred to Yoshimura as "one of the most influential and prolific of the artists to come out of Japan’s ambient renaissance." Tom Moon of NPR noted Yoshimura as "one of the revered pioneers of Japanese electronic music."
