BASILICA SOUNDSCAPE | MIHO HATORI Q&A
by Sam Bashaw
Miho Hatori of the former, celebrated group Cibo Matto, will be performing a sound bath in Hudson, NY at Basilica Soundscape this weekend. Basilica SoundScape is an anti-festival of sorts that explores the work of avant garde artists and celebrates uniqueness with music, visual art, literature, and performance. Appearances include the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Nick Zinner x Haxan Cloak, a 76-piece orchestra composed by Stephen O’Malley, a site-specific dance by FlucT and a plethora of more, including the captivating sound of 90s It Girl, Hatori.
Brandon Stosuy, Editor-in-Chief of The Creative Independent, who is co-presenting the festival, had this to say about Hatori, "I curated a series of three events with Miho a few months ago at the Broad Museum in L.A. as part of a Kusama exhibition. Across those events, it struck me that she's so good at so many different kinds of music, and can move seamlessly between abstract ambiance and dance and experimental weirdness. So, for this year's Soundscape, I asked her to do two sets. I imagined the sound bath as a kind of cleansing of the space at the start of the night, and the second set as a way to close the night off, but also to open it up to other possibilities and lead us into the next day. It's really cool that she agreed to go for it, and I'm excited to see what she does."
Here is more on Hatori’s coming up performance at Basilica Soundscape:
What is the inspiration for your sound bath performance that will take place at Basilica Soundscape? Describe your performance.
I am visualizing the first set is pale colors like an Agnes Martin’s painting but my melody is jet black. The second set is more like neon colors on the painting of Hudson River School.
What day and time with your performance take place?
I play two sets on Friday, at the beginning and the end of the day: 6:45PM – 7:15PM and 11:45PM – 12:15AM.
Is this your first time participating in the festival and if so how do you feel about it?
Yes! I heard that the festival has a unique quality and great curation. I am very happy to be a part of it this year!
What are you looking forward to most at the festival?
Having two sets allows me to do two different projects! It will be thrilling and fun to do both. The two sets are very different vibes and mental states.
How do you think participators will react to your particular sound bath?
I imagine people are very open minded and will feel something.
Your EP, Amazon to LeFrak was just released in July of this year. Will your work at the festival be derived from the songs on the EP and what is the feel of it?
Usually when I play the project, New Optimism, I have two band members (Timo Ellis and Paul Wilson) to play with, but this time I am playing solo. I am going to tour solo in Europe in this fall and winter, so I am preparing for how to approach this while being able to have fun alone.
For this Basilica Soundscape, the first set is a more ambient like project called Mondialité (inspired by Edouard Glissant), the second set is more dance music, new tunes. Both sets has improvisation elements. I’m psyched!