{"id":2485567,"date":"2026-07-02T21:14:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2485567"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:14:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:14:28","slug":"new-music-midori-hirano-the-juniper-tree-viernulvier-records-thrill-jockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-music-midori-hirano-the-juniper-tree-viernulvier-records-thrill-jockey\/","title":{"rendered":"New music \u2013 Midori Hirano: The Juniper Tree (Viernulvier Records \/ Thrill Jockey)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/arcana.fm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/midori-hirano.jpg\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by <strong>Ben Hogwood<\/strong>, using the press release<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kyoto-born, Berlin-based composer and producer <strong>Midori Hirano<\/strong> announces <em>The Juniper Tree<\/em>, her new album recasting the score for the debut film by Nietzchka Keene, out October 2 via <strong>Viernulvier Records<\/strong> and <strong>Thrill Jockey<\/strong>. Originally commissioned by Kunstencentrum Viernulvier for its acclaimed Videodroom series, in which contemporary experimentalists reimagine the musical accompaniment of classic arthouse cinema, the score now receives its first standalone release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A feminist retelling of the Brothers Grimm story and Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s first on-screen role, <em>The Juniper Tree<\/em> premiered to critical acclaim at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival. Shot in haunting black-and-white on location in Iceland, it follows two sisters who flee after their mother is executed for witchcraft, standing as a powerful allegory of misogyny and its consequences. \u201cThe film shows many raw aspects of human nature, such as madness, silence, loss, love, seduction, friendship, deception, self-preservation and innocence, but they are all expressed in a fantastically fragile way. The exciting challenge for me is to incorporate that fragility in the music while keeping its strength,\u201d shares Hirano.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Take Me With You\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XBvYfN3mW4Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coinciding with the announcement, Hirano shares two tracks: <em>Take Me With You<\/em> and <em>Spell On You<\/em>, which reveal two respective sides of the score\u2014piano and synthesizer compositions, both imbued with the same sense of restraint as the film. On the former, Hirano explains: \u201cThis is a piece played in the scene where Margit (a medieval witch played by Bj\u00f6rk) is searching for her mother on the shore. A simple ambient synth tone repeats at regular intervals, slowly changing in timbre, reflecting Margit\u2019s quiet calls for her mother.\u201d On <em>Spell On You<\/em> she adds: \u201cA simple piano piece, evoking a sense of both eeriness and sacredness. This appears multiple times throughout the film whenever Margit\u2019s sister Katla casts a spell.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spell On You\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IFOF3WT51b0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While composing the music for The Juniper Tree, Hirano drew on her own memories of touring Iceland, which included a stop at a waterfall featured in the film and rendered in sound on \u201cMother\u2019s Path.\u201d Folktales, like the origins of The Juniper Tree, are often attempts to contend with humans\u2019 place in the natural world, and both the film and Hirano\u2019s soundtrack draw their sense of breathless wonder in part from the sensation of being engulfed by one\u2019s environment. Hirano captures the relationship between the transcendental awe that is felt as supernatural and the private feelings of being immersed in that experience, creating a musical dialogue between the self and what lies beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the final sentences of her liner notes, Anna Bogutskaya says, \u201cwhat we call Margit\u2019s witchcraft is maybe just her willingness to listen.\u201d Just as Keene seems to break down barriers between binary poles, Hirano uses both electronic and acoustic means to communicate the film\u2019s emotive cues. Through sound, we understand what lies beyond sight, beyond convention, and with this new soundtrack we hear the story anew.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Listen to \u201cTake Me With You\u201d and \u201cSpell On You\u201d above and stay tuned for more from Midori Hirano ahead of the full release of The Juniper Tree on 2 October via Viernulvier and Thrill Jockey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"120\" style=\"position: relative; display: block; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/v=2\/album=821607835\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Published post no.2,935 \u2013 Thursday 2 July 2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"wordads-inline-marker\" style=\"display: none;\"\/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;appId=249643311490&version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source arcana.fm \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Ben Hogwood, using the press release Kyoto-born, Berlin-based composer and producer Midori Hirano announces The Juniper Tree, her new album recasting the score for the debut film by Nietzchka Keene, out October 2 via Viernulvier Records and Thrill Jockey. Originally commissioned by Kunstencentrum Viernulvier for its acclaimed Videodroom series, in which contemporary experimentalists reimagine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2485568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2485567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/New-music-\u2013-Midori-Hirano-The-Juniper-Tree-Viernulvier-Records.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2485567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2485569,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485567\/revisions\/2485569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2485568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2485567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2485567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2485567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}