Sanae Yamada is musician and composer currently based on Portland, Oregon. Since 2009 she has recorded and toured as half of the band Moon Duo (with Ripley Johnson) and solo under the name Vive la Void. She has also created a score and soundscape in collaboration with the theatre company Half-Straddle for the play Is This a Room, which premiered at The Kitchen in 2019 on ran on Broadway in 2021. Her ambient improvisations can be heard on the art podcast Line Time. Her work explores trance states, the shadow, and the nature of consciousness.
This piece originated with an invitation from my partner, Ripley, to make a 60 minute ambient track for his radio show on NTS. This was in late April. The room where I work looks out on an apple tree, which was in full bloom. When the wind blew, petals would float in the air and down to the scrappy grass below. I sat in this room and listened – to the tree, the wind, the flowers, birds and insects; to the hum of the neighbours HVAC system and the cars on the street and the power lines and the howling dog next door; to the room and the walls of the room and to my own breath and the sounds that came into my head, body and hands. Flowering Tree emerged from that place of presence, stillness and receptivity.
Recorded by Sanae Yamada in Portland, Oregon in 2024
Guitar loop by Ripley Johnson
Mixed by Sanae Yamada and Ripley Johnson