Hiroshi Yoshimura – Flora 1987

LITA Exclusive pressed on Sky Blue colored vinyl

First ever official reissue

Produced in full cooperation with Hiroshi Yoshimura’s estate

Liner notes by contemporary music writer and professor Junichi Konuma

Remastered from original sources by John Baldwin

2xLP vinyl housed in gatefold jacket

Discs cut at 45 rpm for optimal sound quality

Vinyl pressed at Optimal Media (Germany)

 

Following their 2024 reissue of Hiroshi Yoshimura’s classic album, Surround, Temporal Drift proudly presents the first-ever reissue of FLORA, Yoshimura’s underappreciated ambient classic.

 

FLORA was originally recorded and completed in 1987, and remained unreleased until 2006, nearly three years after Yoshimura’s passing in 2003. The album is chronologically and stylistically a follow-up to his acclaimed 1986 works GREEN and SURROUND, wherein Yoshimura continues to play with the ambience of sound and the sound of ambience, underscoring his mastery in the field of environmental music. Yoshimura’s other recorded works include Music For Nine Post Cards (1982), originally produced to be played back inside a museum space, and Pier & Loft (1983), commissioned as accompaniment to a contemporary fashion show.

 

"FLORA is an album that is listened to perpetually, Passed on from one listener to another, And the charm of the sound- and music-loving figure known as Hiroshi Yoshimura, Just might come drifting through. Like the scent of a small flower." — Junichi Konuma

 

Barely known outside of his home country during his lifetime, the late Japanese ambient music pioneer Hiroshi Yoshimura has seen his global stature rise steadily in the past few years.

Known for his sound design and environmental music, Yoshimura worked on a number of commissions following the 1982 release of Music For Nine Post Cards, including works for museums, galleries, public spaces, TV shows, video art, fashion shows, and even a cosmetics company. His music has received much critical acclaim. In 2018, Crack Magazine selected his albums Green and Music For Nine Post Cards as the number 1 and number 7th most essential Japanese ambient albums, respectively. Malcolm Standing for Demo Magazine referred to Yoshimura as "one of the most influential and prolific of the artists to come out of Japan’s ambient renaissance." Tom Moon of NPR noted Yoshimura as "one of the revered pioneers of Japanese electronic music."

 

A1 – Over The Clover オーバー・ザ・クローバー – 6:40

A2 – Flora フローラ – 6:02

B1 – Asagao アサガオ – 5:54

B2 – Ojigisou オジギソウ – 2:50

B3 – Maple Syrup Factory メイプル・シロップ・ファクトリー – 4:57

C1 – Adelaide アデレード – 7:11

C2 – Wind Echo ウィンド・エコー – 2:54

C3 – Trick Tree トリック・ツリー – 5:50

D1 – Kasumi カスミ – 5:56

D2 – Silence サイレンス – 5:15

D3 – Satie On The Grass サティ・オン・ザ・グラス – 4:44