In TM’s Atelier – Episode 6: What’s Missing in the Age of Marketing Music

TM, The Surface of Water 2, 2025, digital visual composition

(You can find another TM work, “Le Surface de l'eau 1”  here.)

Troménie in Covent Garden

(“Troménie” is a traditional pilgrimage in Brittany, France, a region with Celtic roots. I use the word for the title in homage to the culture I deeply love.)

After finishing university, I worked for a while —
just long enough to save some money. Then I spent a few years living in Europe.

During that time, something broader began to take shape within me:
a sort of cultural diversity, a new way of listening.

I discovered ballet music, contemporary music,
and traditional music from different parts of Europe. 

I lost count of how many times I went to The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. 

Musically speaking, those years meant a lot to me. 

Quite contrastly, I was spending busy days at business school at the time, though...

Every weekend, there was a concert on campus. 

If there had been a loyalty card, I probably would’ve earned a few free entries from going so often.

Before I knew it, my understanding of music deepened. 

That moment when you listen to an instrumental piece and feel tears welling up —
it became more intense around that time.

Music with the Same Face

After returning to Japan, a quiet dissatisfaction with music began to build up. 

The sounds that used to surprise me had vanished from the market. 

People only talked about lyrics or the artist's image. 

It felt like "the music itself" was slowly fading away.

Wherever I listened, I kept hearing the same patterns,
as if all the songs shared the same face.

Perhaps it was inevitable:
an era had begun where hit formulas were reassembled and mass-produced. 

I call it "marketing music." 

It’s the right approach from a business-school perspective,
but I don't find it interesting. 

Not at all.

There was no longer any curiosity, human subjectivity,
or that little bit of madness that gives creation its life.

Changing the Structure

All the while, ideas kept forming inside me:
to abandon tonality, to let go of chords, and to compose from scales instead.

Rather than replacing the surface of the sound, I wanted to alter the structure itself.

Gregorian chants, Buddhist music, and traditional music from around the world —
all of them flowed together into a single current within me.

I didn’t have time to shape it, but the sound kept resonating deep in my mind.

Years passed, and I got back in touch with TI. 

One day he said, "Why don’t we try making music together again?" 

At first, it was just a little experiment.

But when we uploaded our tracks to SoundCloud,
we started getting more and more reactions.

The people listening were creative musicians from Europe and Americas. 

I was honestly surprised — and deeply impressed. That was around 2016.

Since then, we’ve done many collaborations. 

A number of those works are still up on SoundCloud.

TI and I rarely see each other. We once rented a studio, a long time ago,
but that wasn’t for FMT.

Each of us lives in our own world and composes in our own space.

Through our dialogue, we look at each other with a certain distance,
and help each other expand.

To be continued 

In TM’s Atelier – 

Episode 1: Composition Atelier

Episode 2: Geometry on Five Lines

Episode 3: When the Concept Ignites

Episode 4: Everything Begins with the Colour Red

Episode 5: A Journey of Creation and Self-Discovery

Episode 6: What’s Missing in the Age of Marketing Music