Gutevolk | Profile

Gutevolk is the solo project of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Hirono Nishiyama. Gutevolk's music, generally accompanied by Nishiyama's whispery, childlike vocals, is a mix of ambient electronica alt.folk with subtle hints of jazz and pure pop. Heavily influenced by the pioneering DJ and musician Nobukazu Takemura, Nishiyama shares with him an ability to mix beats, textures, found sounds, and simple melodies into something simultaneously electronic and organic, playful and dark. Nishiyama got started as a musician in 1997 when she soundtracked a self-produced movie. The following year, she penned lyrics and performed the vocal part for a song used in a haircare product commercial for the Lion brand, also doing vocals for another commercial - this time for Yokohama Tire. In addition to her commercial work, Nishiyama saw an original song included on Childisc Vol. 2 a compilation album put out by Childisc, Takemura's label. In 1999, Nishiyama released her first album on Childisc, entitled Yura Yura Yureru, also seeing inclusion in another Childisc compilation featuring four Japanese female authors. She also paired up in a successful and innovative collaboration with Takemura as the opening act for Arto Lindsay on his Japan shows that year. Maintaining the deep Takemura connection, Nishiyama provided vocals and songwriting for his 2000 album Songbook, also garnering the opening slot for Jim O'Rourke and Yo La Tengo on their Japan shows... Read More

Gutevolk is the solo project of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Hirono Nishiyama. Gutevolk's music, generally accompanied by Nishiyama's whispery, childlike vocals, is a mix of ambient electronica alt.folk with subtle hints of jazz and pure pop. Heavily influenced by the pioneering DJ and musician Nobukazu Takemura, Nishiyama shares with him an ability to mix beats, textures, found sounds, and simple melodies into something simultaneously electronic and organic, playful and dark. Nishiyama got started as a musician in 1997 when she soundtracked a self-produced movie. The following year, she penned lyrics and performed the vocal part for a song used in a haircare product commercial for the Lion brand, also doing vocals for another commercial - this time for Yokohama Tire. In addition to her commercial work, Nishiyama saw an original song included on Childisc Vol. 2 a compilation album put out by Childisc, Takemura's label. In 1999, Nishiyama released her first album on Childisc, entitled Yura Yura Yureru, also seeing inclusion in another Childisc compilation featuring four Japanese female authors. She also paired up in a successful and innovative collaboration with Takemura as the opening act for Arto Lindsay on his Japan shows that year. Maintaining the deep Takemura connection, Nishiyama provided vocals and songwriting for his 2000 album Songbook, also garnering the opening slot for Jim O'Rourke and Yo La Tengo on their Japan shows. She saw another track included on Childisc Vol. 5 the same year. Her output remained strong on 2001, releasing the EP Kaisento and the mini-album Pied Piper on Childisc before announcing a move to the Daisyworld imprint. Nishiyama guested on Liberation Von History from Germany's Wechsel Garland (who also records under the name Wunder), appearing at an event in Germany for Wechsel Garland's label, Karaoke Kalk. In 2002, Nishiyama released the album Gutevolk Wa Mizu No Naka under the name Gutevolk - the first time she had attached this name to a release. Additionally that year, she provided vocals for the NHK television show Bi to deau, had her song "Musical Balloon" appear in a Lotte ice cream commercial, collaborated on several releases with other artists, and showed her music-accompanied video work. 2003 saw the release of a best-of album under her full name, released by Karaoke Kalk in Europe, as well as her second album as Gutevolk, entitled Suono, for Tokyo's Noble Records. In January 2005, Gutevolk released the mini-album Twinkle on New York's Happy imprint. Collapse