Hiroshi Yoshimura

𝙈𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙮𝙡 𝙫𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝘾𝘿-𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙅𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣. 𝙍𝙚𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙬𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙥𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙛 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙮𝙡 𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨.
‘Flora’ was written in 1987 and presented on digital format in 2006, since when it has become highly coveted by an ever expanding circle of listeners beyond his domestic, Japanese market, both due to the album’s scarcity (known to trade for £400 2nd hand, with one listed well upward of £500 right now) and the serene fragility of the music. Inspired by strolls in an Edo-era park nearby his house in Tokyo, Yoshimura would record the hour-long album at a height of crest of his influential work in the 2nd of the ‘80s, post the likes of ‘Music for Nine Postcards’ (1982) and Green’ (1986) which both helped define the Japanese environmental sound which has since become shorthand for an effortless, twee sort of background music that feels like Satie imitated by AI.
- That reference point is most literally tangible in the album’s final piece of parping digital synth perfume’Satie on the Grass’, but also felt throughout, from the tranquility of ‘Over the Clover’ thru the breezy petal flutter of ‘Flora’ and keys to ‘Wind Echo’, via the romance of centrepiece ‘Adelaide.’