July 30, 2024
Nick Wood was born in The UK, another Island-country (like Japan) so often associated with rain. In The UK, much like most of Northern Europe, Spring eventually gives way to Summer and, as the days grow longer, people venture into the great outdoors for some long-awaited dry weather. But not in Japan ! As we explored in our previous blog post (HERE), Japan has five seasons: Autumn, Winter, Spring, Rain & Summer. Whilst officially only acknowledging the traditional four-seasons, as I write this, Japan is currently hot, humid and receiving daily showers towards the end of its Rainy Season. It is exactly this fifth season that Nick Wood pays tribute to in the next iteration of the seasonal ‘Towadako’ collection, recorded at Lake Towada in Northern Japan. Following the release of ‘Towadako Spring’ in May, Syn is proud to present its wetter follow-up, ‘Towadako Rain’, available now on Apple Music and Spotify. Japan is a luscious and fertile land - nurturing incredible produce from Rice and Vegetables to Indigo Plants and Cherry Blossom. Japan’s temperate climate and plentiful rain is responsible for many of Japan’s staples, such as Sake (with Akita and Aomori prefectures famous for the purity of their water and Sake) and Soy Sauce, and its rainy season is partly to thank for this.
Having been based in Japan for 36-years, Towadako composer, Nick Wood, has had a long and profound fascination with rain spanning continents. In fact, Japan receives more annual rainfall than The UK (1,646mm vs 916mm), and by swapping one luscious Island for another, Nick Wood has been on a journey to commit this element to music. In his own words, Nick shares his vision behind ‘Towadako Rain’, “We have all experienced rain in some form or another, especially if you’re English like me, and in Japan it does rain a lot. Gentle rain sound has a really interesting frequency of around 432Hz, which is considered to be calming and relaxing, and I think it helps to clear your mind and can help you focus and helps drown out other background sound. When it rains heavy at Lake Towada, it’s an incredible sound. I tried to capture all of those situations and include them in this composition and sound collage.”
The sound of rain is a shared human experience we can all relate to; the pitter-patter of rain on a car roof, or an unexpected downpour on a summer’s day, but what is it about the sound of rain that is so relaxing? As Wood eludes to, the sound of rain resonates at of around 432Hz, and stimulates Alpha Waves in the brain. These neural oscillations promote feelings of relaxation and creativity, particularly when our eyes are closed or we are in a state of near-sleep. It’s no surprise that White Noise Machines, popular with children and anxiety sufferers, usually feature a ‘rain sound’ and are often used to drown out background noise and improve sleep. These feelings of relaxation and self-care are exactly Wood’s intention for the Towadako collection, and ‘Rain’ lends itself to these feelings perfectly, “I definitely wanted people to feel this sense of beauty and wonder with rain, and I think it can help people with anxiety and the distractions of background noise. As a piece of music, it’s quite beautiful and I think we’ve combined some interesting sonic elements into a very cohesive piece of music.”
One might have thought that professional audio equipment and water aren’t a great combination, however, thanks to PlantWave Technology (a pocket sized device converting tiny electrical signals from plants into musical MIDI data), Wood and the Syn team were able to successfully capture the sounds of rain on foliage at Lake Towada. Over the course of several field recording sessions, conveniently during heavy rain, Nick Wood, Alan Mawdsley and Mathieu Kranich were able to record a variety of plants - including Katsura, Cedar, Oak, Silver Birch trees - and convert the PlantWave data into music,
"Two years ago, myself, Alan and Mathieu spent three days up at Lake Towada. It was during a very wet time, so we recorded lots of field recordings of rain in different situations. We also have a field recording engineer at the lake right now, because it’s rainy season, and he is spending 10-days up there with his equipment and amazing microphones and great skill and expertise to record the sound of rain on the lake in an open space; on leaves and on plants.
Some of these quite beautiful, repetitive, ambient, relaxing sounds in the track - like the sounds of little bells or bamboo-like sounds - are from the PlantWave data. I’ve assigned sounds to that data, but the pattern and intervals and rhythms all come from PlantWave.” Whilst technology has played an important role in the Towadako Collection - particularly the accessibility of PlantWave technology and its user-friendly interface - Wood wanted to explore live instrumentation for the ‘Towadako Rain’ release.
Collaborating with Tokyo-based vocalist Ayami Suzuki, Wood and the Syn team travelled 2-hours outside of Tokyo to a tunnel in Oku Tama (cut into a mountain) to record her vocals amidst the natural reverb and buzzing local ecosystem, “We had the chance to go and record Ayami Suzuki in a tunnel about 2-hours from Tokyo, a long tunnel through a mountain and it had very interesting reverb and natural acoustics. There was water dripping and you could hear the sounds of bird and insects, it fit perfectly with what we were trying to do and what we were trying to achieve.”
Nick Wood also looked to guitar as a gentle, melodic instrument to compliment ‘Rain’, collaborating with Texas-based guitarist Sean Halley. Halley’s signature clean, reverb-y guitar tone echoed melodies composed by Wood, played in unison with Suzuki’s vocal melodies. Furthermore, Wood looked to fretless bass to bring some additional personality to ‘Rain’, working with L.A. based Jordan Teal. Nick shares his passion for this often under-utilised instrument, “I’ve always loved fretless bass, I had a Kramer Fretless after leaving school and when I discovered Mick Karn from the band Japan, he absolutely blew my mind with his melodic dexterity, a true inspiration.
When I started composing Rain, I had a Mick Karn moment and I asked Jordan Teal to dust off his fretless. The character of this instrument is distinct with a lot of personality that I felt would bring balance and harmony to Rain.” The use of live instrumentation, alongside processed PlantWave data and synthesised elements, brings layers and textures to ‘Rain’ which further embrace the listener, and welcome them into a state of calm.
The release of ‘Towadako Rain’ marks the second of the five seasons for the ‘Towadako Collection’, with ‘Towadako Summer’ due for release in the coming months. By the end of 2024, this seasonal EP will include over 2-hours of music, taking listeners on a sonic journey through the seasons, via Lake Towada. Nick Wood shares his thoughts on how he hopes audiences will engage with this poignant collection, “I’d love it if people would listen to Spring (which we did first) and then follow it with Rain, it would be great when we’ve finished all of the seasons for people to listen in sequence.” Mixed in Dolby Atmos, and released on Apple Music and Spotify, the ‘Towadako’ collection allows listeners a convenient way to dive into an immersive experience, from the comfort of their own homes (and seasons).
However and wherever you relate to the seasons around you, Towadako offers you an opportunity to be carried by sonic storytelling through five chapters of seasonal time-travel in music and sound.
