Blue. What does the color “blue” sound like? I don’t believe that’s a question I (or others) easily answer. Barriers to sensation, usually, come via barriers from feel. The eyes can’t experience what the mouth can taste or skin can touch. Traveling. That’s a word that helps. Music can, in some ways, paint a picture in mind that doesn’t exist on paper…with sound. In the music of Tomoyuki Hayashi you can hear the signal quite clearly: カラーメッセージブルー it’s a Color Message Blue.
To briefly reshare Mr. Hayashi’s story, some of you might remember that his first introduction to us was via his work with a group he’d dub, ForestIII. In that entry, which you’re welcome to refresh your memory here, one can discover how one Hiroshima man’s love of the music of Bill Evans and healing music transformed upon the arrival of New Age culture in Japan. Shifting his ideas into the realm of “healing music”, Tomoyuki created something that would trapeze the worlds of neoclassical and ambient styles.
Not a year removed from that work, the Apollon label would come to Tomoyuki to propose something further in that vein. Could he work with the Kanebo Cosmetics beauty products label to create a sort of “aesthetic music”? It was an ask: that they would combine music with art-based therapy– all to promote a holistic “beautifying” of the mind, spirit, and body. It was environmental musical synesthesia.
It’s this Kanebo Sound Aesthetic series, which now had a new branch, a Color Message collection, that would help guide the listener and consumer towards some sort of color therapy. Need some color in your life? Perhaps a green would help? A green that invokes: freshness, vitality, peace, rest, etc. Well, you could pick up Tomoyuki’s カラーメッセージグリーン (Color Message Green). The aim was to have you, the listener, actively feel colors and scenery through this music.
What one would receive inside the jewel case wasn’t just a CD and some liner notes. What one would also get is a transparent cellophane insert of whatever color you chose. In essence, if there was not enough green in your world, you could (as inartfully seen in my photo taken above) apply that visual cue/filter instantly. Green, as detailed in the liner note’s explanation, took your mind back to nature – where peace is an instant feeling. Tomoyuki’s music which took color inspiration to heart truly did evoke the symbols of green: spring, herbs, moss, emeralds, and more, playing like a partner to Mr. Yoshimura’s equally pastoral Green.
But what does “blue” sound like? I wish I could completely share the experience with you. Unfortunately, whoever previously owned my copy absconded with that blue cellophane (and my world couldn’t instantly turn blue). So, I turned to my old memory bank to paint a picture as Tomoyuki’s music aired out. My thoughts instantly turned to the ocean, the sky, and to rain on a window. Feelings of lightness, lanquidity, and nostalgia peered up. Was this what everyone else thought of when thinking “blue”? I thought to myself. Perhaps, it was just all the shades of blue Tomoyuki’s songs and motifs brought up?
Reading the liner notes, I saw that the physiological effects “blue” has shown to conjure up the most (according to Kanebo’s aestheticians) were feelings of sincerity, cleanliness, intelligence, silence and coolness. Not bad, I thought. More liner notes found simpatico research among Japanese stating that the color blue spirited images of the sky and sea, almost equally, in mind. I was glad to be among good company. Somehow, as promoted by their results, the color blue was the strongest color to provide “natural comfort”. I sure felt it the most with this collection of Tomoyuki’s music.
Taking to heart Kanebo’s suggestion to do some image training, to think of blue, to picture blue, to feel and look at blue, I stared at the sky and really tuned into what Tomoyuki did on songs like “スカイ・ブルー (Sky Blue)”. After a swim, I put on his “シー・ブルー (Sea Blue)” and “ウォーター・ブルー (Water Blue)”. Relaxing, right before a siesta, I put on his “ディープ・ブルー (Deep Blue)”.
Thereafter, I more fully understood the musical equation side of thep practice. This was thought-provoking healing music meant for a more personal kind of environment. It’s one found in that distance between one and all the primary colors around us. It’s a message still loud and clear.