cloud collecting #21: Moskitoo

~and ways to help with LA fire relief~

Jan 16, 2025

Hello friends,

I couldn’t bring myself to share a new interview last week. I live just north of LA, and I think every single person here is experiencing grief. I had loved ones and family in my community lose their whole homes, or a part of their homes, many of who are still unable to go back and see what is left, with no place to call home for an unknown amount of time. And then there is the heaviness for the land, the animals, the children, the communities displaced. This will be a marathon, not a sprint. So I wanted to share some resources put together by my friends at Living Earth. The ripples of this go far and every bit counts.

The first cloud collecting interview of ‘25 is with the amazing Tokyo-based sound artist + singer Moskitoo. Her album Unspoken Poetry from 2024 is a favorite of mine and I’m happy to have had this chance to connect with her.

Moskitoo is a sound artist and singer based in Tokyo. Born in Tokyo and raised in Sapporo, she made her solo debut in 2007 with the album DRAPE, released on the NY-based label 12k, founded by Taylor Deupree. Since then, she has collaborated and worked with many musicians, including FilFla.

Moskitoo's music continues to explore new relationships between sound, music, and voice. Her work starts with her own voice as the foundation and weaves in various instruments, including guitar and toy glockenspiel, along with everyday sounds, non-instrumental noises, and accidental elements. Through improvisation and unexpected sounds, she navigates the space between sound and silence, tracing the contours of unseen worlds. With an acute sensitivity to the subtle phenomena created by the textures and spatiality of sound, she handles every aspect of her creative process, including design, to craft her unique world.

She has toured across Europe, North America, Canada, and Australia, performing at diverse events in Denmark, Korea, and beyond. In addition to her live performances, she has contributed sound design for video works, short films, and vocals for TV commercials and corporate sound logos.

In October 2024, Moskitoo released her latest album Unspoken Poetry on the Japanese HEADZ/WEATHER label.

1. How do rituals influence you as a musician, and how do they affect you as a listener? Do you notice your routines changing frequently or do they stay with you for a long time?

I don’t follow a strict routine; it changes depending on what I want to create. Sometimes it lasts for a while, sometimes not, like the ebb and flow of waves. When the urge to create strikes, I let myself drift along with it, making things with an open mind. After the creative tide has receded, I often find myself in the quiet of daily life. After pouring everything out, I sometimes fall into a deep, empty state, like an empty vessel awaiting something to fill it again…In everyday life, I become attuned to the subtle sounds around me and look for little clues that might spark a creative theme. When something sparks in my mind, it feels like the door to a creative ritual has opened.

At times, when what’s been unfolding in my mind is repeated enough, it almost leaves my hands, and sound and voice start to weave themselves together. That’s when I feel something ritualistic, and I’m always seeking those moments when I can enter that zone. As a listener, I realize that listening to music can unconsciously awaken the landscape of one’s heart. It’s when my own memories or scenes connect with the music, becoming sacred moments of my own inner ritual. Listening to music sometimes feels like a key that unlocks hidden emotions inside me.

2. You often evoke memories of múm and Lali Puna, two bands that significantly influenced me in my late teens and early twenties. Who are some of your major musical influences starting with early childhood to now, and how have they shaped the music you create?

As a child, I listened to classical music and practice pieces through piano lessons. That’s when I first became aware of the shape of sound. Later, as a teenager, I got into Japanese pop, UK rock, techno-pop, and new wave. I also went to a Christian school in high school and university, where hymns deeply embedded themselves in my heart. Those things form the early "map" of my music. Then, discovering bands like Tortoise, Stereolab, and Sea and Cake, I became more immersed in music and band activities. In my 20s, I leaned toward Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers, and Robert Wyatt, and started listening to 70s avant-garde music. The music of Brigitte Fontaine and Areski had a huge impact on me, with its beauty and quiet madness, avant-garde free expression, fantasy, and the mysterious power hidden in the sound. This deeply influenced my solo expression. Music transcended
words and felt like it was speaking to me, and their uncertain, fantastical worldview opened up a new path for me. These elements are deeply rooted in my work and continue to shape my approach to free musical expression.

múm and Lali Puna are also special to me. I was making pop music close
to theirs in a band I played in during my younger years. But around
2005, when I started my solo activities and explored music I could make
on my own, I eventually found my current style.

3. How do you cloud collect (connect to childlike wonder) in your creativity?

“Cloud collect” is such a lovely expression! In my creative process, I’m always looking for "unexpected things" to spark a childlike wonder. I try to make sound from noises and errors that don’t seem like they could become music, or incorporate unexpected events that happen on the spot. I aim for constant discoveries. In making music, I don’t overlook the "unnecessary" or “waste” things in daily life, and when I notice the hidden charm in them, it’s like a
spark ignites inside me.

Also, time spent aimlessly wandering or being alone, away from all devices, is very important to me. It’s during those times that unexpected gifts often come to me from the environment or my inner dialogue. For example, the moment when the color of the sky changes during a walk, the scent of the air after the rain clears, or encountering an old building that feels heavy with time—all these moments seem to carry nameless stories. For me, they’re fragments of music I haven’t discovered yet. Capturing such small moments in everyday life awakens my "childlike eyes." When I create music, it’s like gently scooping up that feeling, like collecting clouds, and turning it into sound or rhythm. That’s how I find the spark of a childlike wonder.

The best places to find Moskitoo online are—

moskitoo.com + www.instagram.com/moskitoo