Eiko Ishibashi (Interview)

Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Eiko Ishibashi, a Japanese pianist and composer based in Tokyo. We first recommended her music back in April, focusing on her score for Drive My Car from 2021. That was her first collaboration with director Ryusuke Hamaguchi; their second collaboration, Evil Does Not Exist, came out in April. For the meditative and humanistic film, Ishibashi’s score blends orchestral strings and jazz trappings (notably a hyperactive ride cymbal). A brief conversation with Eiko follows the streaming links.

Evil Does Not Exist - Eiko Ishibashi (40m, spoken vocals on track 6)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

Drive My Car - Eiko Ishibashi (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

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What are your earliest memories of music?

The sound of the factory in my neighborhood.

Your score for Drive My Car reflected the jazz in the mind of Haruki Murakami, the adapted story's author. Tell us about how you received the assignment for Drive My Car, and how you decided what that score should sound like.

The producer recommended my album to Mr. Hamaguchi, who liked the album and asked me to do the score.

I was not really aware of Haruki Murakami's original work. I tried to express the comfort of Misaki's driving car in the music, and the result was music with a jazz atmosphere.

With Evil Does Not Exist, there's more silence than music in the film. What is the role of silence in this film and what are your thoughts on silence as a musical instrument?

I consider music more unnatural than silence in film. In this film, I think that silence expresses various aspects of nature. It is as if the silence reveals the contours of nature. I think music plays only a part of it.

Tell us about the composition of the Evil Does Not Exist theme. What influences do you trace on that piece?

When I saw the edited footage, I felt something like Hamaguchi-san's unspoken anger, which became the inspiration for this music.

What music are you listening to these days that inspires you?

Charles Ives

Name an underrated artist from the past 50 years.

Albert Marcœur, Mike Smith

What are you working on next?

I’ve just finished my new song album.

via Instagram