Listening Experience: Music for Rest Rooms by Yumiko Morioka & MSCTY_Studio

In collaboration withSlow Wonderand Sonic Minds, Reethaus presents an invitation to collective rest by MSCTY_Studio and pianist Yumiko Morioka, a pioneer of Japanese ambient music. With*Music for Rest Rooms*,listeners are invited into a state of respite from the hustle and bustle of urban life.

Observing how the private booth in Tokyo has been repurposed from a public phone booth to a mini-office-for-hire, where people make hurried video calls in bustling stations, James Greer and Nick Luscombe of MSCTY_Studio lamented the proliferation of infrastructure designed for to-do lists and urgency, alongside the scarcity of spaces oriented toward relaxation and gentleness. The booths became a spatial symbol of the state of urban consciousness. Reflecting on this disheartening trend, Greer and Luscombe began to envision an alternative network of sound capsules—a thought experiment “about dignity and permission in a world that is exhausting and demanding of our time.”

To develop this concept, they traveled to meet pianist Yumiko Morioka, a mysterious figure in early Japanese environmental music who had recently made her own retreat to a “Rest Room,” moving to the wilderness of Oniishi in Gunma Prefecture in central Japan. During their visit with Yumiko, Luscombe and Greer followed her through the rhythms of her daily life, which unfolds amid clear skies, birdsong, picnics by the river, musical mountain farmhouses, and ethereal glimpses of cedar trees at the edge of the forest. In addition to field recordings, these memories were captured in photographs, fragments of conversation, and notes that formed a “graphic score” for five moments, which were then set to music in the studio.

The result is*Music for Rest Rooms*, a clearwater capsule that offers a respite from the cult of constant attention. Making subtle use of the ambient sounds of the mountain landscapes and flights of fancy from Yumiko’s piano, MSCTY has woven the peace of Oniishi into this sonic pillow.

Reethaus is delighted to present*Music for Rest Rooms*in a space purpose-built for collective repose, unwinding, and exploration. This event is presented in collaboration with Slow Wonder, a “Slowness” experiment in living at the Wonderfruit Festival in Thailand, and Sonic Minds, a year-round research initiative by Wonderfruit that explores the intersection of sound, mindfulness, and nature.