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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8 GBP  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Translucent Green Vinyl - limited to 300 copies.
    Brand new artwork by Elvis Barlow-Smith.

    Includes unlimited streaming of MIOS via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 200 
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Eco-friendly gatefold card case with artwork by Elvis Barlow-Smith.

    Better product shots coming in a few weeks! :)

    Includes unlimited streaming of MIOS via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8 GBP or more 

     

  • Standard 140g Black Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Standard 140g Black Vinyl Edition.

    Includes unlimited streaming of MIOS via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Zebra 04:00
2.
Luna Park 04:42
3.
Island Girl 04:24
4.
5.
6.
A Tale 05:31
7.
Hari-Hari 04:54
8.
Tangram 04:14
9.
Life Goes On 02:31

about

In 1989, pianist and composer Yumiko Morioka put together a group of diverse street musicians and semi-professional players for a project that would come to be called the Synergetic Voice Orchestra. Inspired by Yumiko’s love of different musical cultures from around the globe, the band drew on influences from India, Ethiopia, Mali, Korea and China to create an album that merged these sonic identities with more traditional sounds from the southern Japanese city of Okinawa.

Having released her solo piano record Resonance a couple of years earlier, Yumiko was thrilled when offered the chance to make an album of ‘any kind of music she wanted’. She pulled together artists she knew or had seen playing from in and around Tokyo, many of whom were self-taught and could not read music.

It wasn’t always easy for Yumiko, a classically taught musician, to work with others who lacked her formal training. But by employing the synergetic principles of American architect and theorist Buckminster Fuller, she fostered an environment where the results of the group had a larger impact than that of the individual.

This approach brought a real energy to her compositions and the resulting recording sessions produced MIOS, an exploratory, creative work that felt alive with free-wheeling creativity. Nothing was off limits. The drummer, who ran a vegetable stall by day and practiced in a cemetery at night as to not disturb his neighbours, utilised old washing machine parts for some of the percussive elements.

Although Synergetic Voice Orchestra would eventually morph into a new band, leaving MIOS to exist as a singular moment in time, the album remains as one of Japan’s true hidden treasures.

Originally a CD only release, MIOS now comes to vinyl for the very first time, complete with brand new artwork by Elvis Barlow-Smith and remastered in 2021. An initial pressing of 700 will be available from July 7th 2021 in multiple colourways via Métron’s Bandcamp page, and through their distributors Hot Salvation (EU) and Light In The Attic (US).

credits

released July 7, 2021

Composed By Yumiko Morioka
Directed By Mikio Tajima, Shigeo Ohwa
Produced By Shigeo Ohwa, Yumiko Morioka
Recorded By Tatsuya Sakamoto
Remastering By Brandon Hocura

Drums Masahiro Iwamoto
Engineer Isao, Susumu Shigeto
Executive Producer Katsuji Okamoto, Kuniji Nakai
Flute Shunji Yamamoto
Keyboards Yumiko Morioka
Koto Mitsuko Nakabayashi
Percussion Katsuaki Yoshiguchi, Yujin Harada
Performer [Ohayashi] Naojiro Kato
Sitar Motoyasu Tatsuno
Vocals Mami Tanaka, Norico, Samala

Artwork by Elvis Barlow-Smith
Special thanks to: Jessica Goodchild & George Clift

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Métron Records New Forest District, UK

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