“Centered on the songs from Crépuscule I & II, Koyama’s black and white films accent the lulling shadows and spooky crevices haunting the music, sound and image shrouding the colourful auditorium in noir hues. The result is equal parts tender and surreal, creating a dreamlike intimacy in the vast space.” – THE QUIETUS

Tujiko Noriko is a musician, singer, songwriter and filmmaker based in France. Her latest album is Crepuscule I&II, from Editions Mego (2023).

On Crépuscule one can hear the influence the film medium has had on her music as visual insignia are invoked in the evocative audio at hand. Instrumental interludes further conjure a film landscape alongside the titles which also reiterate the cinematic form.
This is synthetic music with a deep human presence. The mind of a human captured wandering the fantastic realms of the internal sphere is exquisitely rendered through machines which usually prompt one to disfigure such humanistic tendencies. The warmth, serenity and dream-like environment that Noriko conjures from her tools is what makes her such a unique and outstanding artist and Crépuscule is an epic testament to these powers.
The title Crépuscule perfectly encapsulates the somnambulant nature of the music where the nocturnal shifts evoke a broad sense of calm. Crépuscule I features a selection of shorter ‘songs’ whilst Crépuscule II allows more room for these songs / moods to breathe with only three songs running at broader longer duration. Crépuscule allows the listener to view the world through Noriko’s eyes. With her cunning ability to humanise machines a world of calm wonder is allowed to take focus in the frame.

Having released Crépuscule I & II in early 2023 to great acclaim, Tujiko Noriko has now collaborated with filmmaker Joji Koyama to create a live audiovisual concert. The new live set draws from the moods and themes of the album, transforming it into a mesmeric, cinematic experience. Tujiko’s ethereal singing accents her extended, otherworldly electronic pieces, whilst Koyama (who worked on the music as well as the album artwork), expands the haunting visual world of Crépuscule – a world that is as beautiful as it is strange. The Crépuscule Live A/V concert was commissioned by and premiered at the electronic music and digital art festival Semibreve, in Portugal.

Joji Koyama is a Berlin-based filmmaker, animator and graphic artist. His short films, animations and music videos (including Four Tet, Mogwai and Jlin) have screened internationally, winning awards at the London Short Film Festival and British Animation Awards. In 2015 he published his first book of short visual stories, ‘Plassein’. His feature length film ‘Kuro’, written and directed with Tujiko Noriko premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and was streamed worldwide on Mubi.