You’re originally a classically trained singer and pianist. What triggered your interest in electronic sound production and processing?
Yoko Konishi: Originally I was interested in feeling space. When I sing, I prepare my breath. I feel it inside my body long time before the voice goes out into the space. When I sing, I feel the space outside of my body. I was very interested in this feeling of inside and outside and how those spaces join. If you want to do something creative in sound space, electronic sound is the most suitable tool for shaping it. With electronics I can also create micro sounds without always thinking about what the possibilities and limits of the instrument are. So now what I like to do is to combine the physical presence of instrumental sound with the imagined sonic worlds that electronics allow me to create.
Your works often connects poetic or witty titles to harsh immersive sound worlds capturing corporeal or biological processes. These sound worlds can affect the listener in a very physical way. How do these different layers – the poetic, the abstract, and the physical – relate to each other in your work?
Yoko Konishi: Since I start my creative process from my physical sensation of space, for me the density of sound space, that immersive element is very important. It’s important to use the extremity of the density: very massive, noisy, and energetic sounds but also very tiny and intimate ones. I like to play with these contrasts to evoke the physical sensation of the audience. I want them to be able to feel this density in their bodies, feel something glitchy under their skin. I don’t know if that’s really possible but when I imagine my projects I start by asking myself which kind of sensation I want to evoke.
You're not an entirely new voice at Heroines of Sound. In 2023 the guitar duo Santorsa-Pereyra performed your piece »The light fell on the wall, where limpidity like gauze, she opened her eyes.« at the festival. How would you describe the development of your work from that point to today?
Yoko Konishi: This one is a very harsh, noisy piece. It has been played by the duo many times. Interestingly enough, when they performed it at Radialsystem, I first discovered how much I like the combination of these sounds with a very high quality sound diffusion system as the one of Radialsystem. This experience really stayed in the back of my head. After that I tried to use more harsh sounds, seeking the contrast between intimate and very dynamic sounds. Last year I took part in the courses at IRCAM – Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique in Paris, where I realized a quite big production. There I had enough time to really explore possibilities in more detail, to create not only impressive but also detailed sound. This contrast between harsh and intimate sound really has become kind of my base of creation.
This year's Heroines of Sound festival will see your new composition »Motus Umbra« premiered by Polish Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble. How did you develop the work with the ensemble?
Yoko Konishi: I knew that the ensemble has a lot of experience and a broad repertoire, so I had all the confidence I could trust them with my music. It’s a larger ensemble piece: bass flute, baritone saxophone, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello, and electronics. The instrument part already has a lot of density in itself because there are seven instruments and the writing itself is highly energetic. The electronics are quite dense as well. So the piece is acoustically very dynamic within a dense sonic space.
You will also be performing yourself: »Fluctuating Beings«, a work that has been with you since 2021. Has it changed since its inception?
Yoko Konishi: I have evolved a lot myself since then. In this piece I use a card board box, a small speaker, and a contact microphone to create a feedback. This is my instrument. When I first created the piece, I was mainly exploring the possibilities of this instrument. Over the years, I have developed a much more precise relationship with it. Rather than radically changing the piece, I prefer to let it evolve gradually as my own artistic practice continues to develop, because this piece has stayed with me for several years and remains an important part of my practice.
A little gaze into the future: What comes for you after Heroines of Sound?
Yoko Konishi: One direction I would like to develop in the future is the staging of my work by integrating media such as light or video. My next project after Heroines of Sound is an artistic residency in Switzerland. I will work with an ambisonic sound system there, explore its potential for my compositions, which I already did in the piece I created at IRCAM. I consider composition in space as my specialty and want to explore how I can work with it in a more precise and dynamic way. This I can do at the residency.
