Name: Akira Kosemura
Nationality: Japanese
Occupation: Composer, Producer, label founder at schole
Current Release: Akira Kosemura's new album, the 15th anniversary edition of Polaroid Piano, is out via Room40 / Someone Good.  

If you enjoyed this interview with Akira Kosemura and would like to know more about his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and bandcamp.

For a deeper dive, read our earlier Akira Kosemura interview. 



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Yes, I see colors too. I’m not good at painting but composing is like drawing for me.

When I listen to the music, it depends on the situation. I close my eyes when I'm inside, in a room. But when I’m outside, I like to see the views with the music.

When I close my eyes with music playing, I see inside of myself.

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

When I listen with headphones, I’m immersed deeply into the sounds and I block out the other senses.

But when I listen to music on a stereo system, I put the volume low, and I feel the air vibration. The music is getting more blended with the space.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

I like it if music allows me to see the actual intimate moments of the recording.

Examples are Bill Evans’ From Left To Right, Art Tatum’s Piano Starts Here, Glenn Gould’s Brahms: 10 intermezzi for Piano, Dustin O’Halloran’s Lumiere, Olafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm’s Trance Frendz and Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks.



[Read our Dustin O’Halloran interview]
[Read our Olafur Arnalds interview]
[Read our Nils Frahm interview]
[Read our Max Richter interview]

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

For me, environmental sounds (natural sounds) are something I could always gladly listen to for hours. All sounds in the world become an interesting sound for me.

That said, I don’t want to hear construction site noises for hours. That would  make me dizzy.

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

Anything is potentially interesting, even an air conditioning.

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

Yes, I’m living in Japan so sometimes I go to the onsen and I really enjoy listening to the sounds of the onsen’s source in the cave.

What are among your favorite spaces to record and play your music?

My studio with my old piano.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

No, it’s more spiritual.

It’s kind of the abstract painting. My hands move on the keys without thinking.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?

I’m always moved by them. Humans are just one part of nature, and I’m grateful for all-natural sounds.

Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?  

Of course, it’s possible and important.

I’m communicating with my dog every day. We are not talking the same language, but we know each other.

I’m not sure there’s a creative element on it, but creativity always comes from ordinary days for me. Everything is connected.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

For me, music is my life, and if there were no music in this world, I could not survive. The same goes for natural sounds, music does not merely encompass sounds purposefully created by humans. Instruments are made from nature and influenced by natural sounds.

I really love silence too. ECM records have this saying that their music is the most beautiful sound next to silence, and I agree that silence is most beautiful if it allows us to hear the sounds in the world.

Actual silence does not exist in the natural world. I love to listen intently in the silence.