Islaja and Midori Hirano at Ausland Berlin / Sunday, 06.11.2016

Prior to the 2016 Heroines of Sound festival, two local talents Islaja and Midori Hirano will present live performances at Ausland. The evening will also feature a screening of a documentary film about Suzanne Ciani.

The latest ISLAJA album marks a radical transition for the former folk musician into a solo-artist who skillfully arranges lyrics, melodies and imagery into a much more electronic style than she has been known for in the past. The album is called S U U which is Finnish for “mouth”, and ISLAJA’s bold vocal style and lyrical content will make you want to tune in to what’s coming from her S U U.

ISLAJA has been part of the contemporary music scene for several years already producing wonderfully arranged surreal pop-tracks in her solo work as in Keraaminen Pää 2010 as well as in collaboration with other musicians as the Hertta Lussu Ässä project in 2011, released on De Stijl (USA) or recently as a contributor to AGF’s Kuuntele compilation in 2013. In total she has previously had four full length albums on Finnish label Fonal plus one on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! Records.

Still, so far it has mainly been insiders of the underground music scene that have been familiar with her work. Her music is associated strongly to the D.I.Y. scene so represents a prime example of a female musician who has developed a singular musical and aesthetic expression. Now with her fifth album appearing on Gudrun Gut’s monika enterprise in spring 2014, the latest activities of Berlin based Finnish pop-musician ISLAJA have shown a surprising change in style and sound.

Midori Hirano, Japanese musician, composer and producer, born in Kyoto/Japan and now living in Berlin since 2008. She started to play the piano as a child, and this triggered what was to later see her study classical piano at university. Therefore her productions are based on the use of acoustic instruments such as piano, strings or guitars, but yet experimental and an eclectic mixture of modern digital sounds with subtle electronic processing and field recordings.

She released two albums on Japanese label Noble almost 10 years ago before she re-appeared with a tape on Staalplaat’s cassette label in 2015 and has in September debuted her first album for Sonic Pieces, which is a beautiful set of electronic cues accompanied by mellow piano.
She is also known as MimiCof, her other solo project in which she focuses on more electronic and beat-oriented set. Under her MimiCof moniker, she has performed at Heroines of Sound Festival 2015 and at Perspectives Festival in 2013.