Work nominated
for the 2025 Music Springboard Award

“Kikai no Hada 5” (Mechanical Skin 5) is heavily inspired by my time at an electronic music research institute, where I explored various soundscapes. In this piece, I aim to replicate the synthetic sonic experience of electronic music within the organic framework of a traditional orchestra.

The fundamental concept of this piece is applying electronic music techniques. For instance, playing back same-length tape loops from identical recordings. Due to minor differences in playback speeds, a delay occurs, causing a divergence in the two cycles, similar to a phasing effect in electronic music. Also, the sound signal is manipulated through orchestration, miming electronic circuit control crafting unique timbres in an acoustic setting. I also employed techniques that resemble waveform multiplication in electronic music, blending different sonic shapes in the orchestra.

I once saw artificial skin designed for robots. The moment that inorganic machine was fitted with skin, it transformed into an ambiguous entity between human and machine. I was struck by its eerie texture and the cold, lifeless absence of blood. Thus, in this work, I approached the orchestra as if it were a sentient entity, wherein the sounds are crafted artificially but embody the life-like quality of an orchestra. I referred to the orchestra as a living creature encapsulated in an artificial sonic shell. The music unfolds slowly, like the creature gradually breaking through the shell of synthetic sound, birthing a unique and dynamic auditory experience.