Ichiko Aoba Brings Luminescent Creatures to Thalia Hall
Article by Aidan Heilman
Ichiko Aoba is a folk musician and multi-instrumentalist originally from the Kyoto Prefecture of Japan. She began learning how to play classical guitar when she was seventeen under the guidance of Amni Yamada, and released her first album, “Kamisori Otome”, two years later in 2010. Her writing is formatively inspired by scores from Disney and Studio Ghibli, and continues to be inspired by her dreams, storytelling, and imagination. The output of her creativity sounds ethereal, dreamy, and soft, primarily composed around her guitar and voice. In 2020 she founded an independent music label called hermine and released “Windswept Adan”. Originally written as a score for an imaginary film, this became one of her most widely recognized albums. Her most recent solo album “Luminescent Creatures” was released in February of this year, and has been at the center of her ongoing world tour. She stopped by Chicago’s very own Thalia Hall on May 7th to play a show supported by Gia Margaret, to which I had the pleasure of attending.
The audience was full of anticipation as we waited for Gia Margaret to enter the stage. Her setup consisted of a desk that held two synth keyboards, several effects pedals, a laptop, and a lamp that shone a warm glow upon all of it. To the left of the desk was a mixing board, and to the right, a microphone. To the right of the stage were two basses, a fretted five string and a fretless four string, as well as a bass amp. When Margaret and her bassist came out and got settled, the lights dimmed and the crowd erupted. The set began with a flow of synth pad that filled the room, accompanied by light arpeggiation, the sounds of birds chirping, and improvisation on the fretless bass. Soon, a very recognizable melody emerged. It was the melody of “Hinoki Wood” off of Margaret’s 2023 album “Romantic Piano”. “Hinoki Wood” has had an eruption in popularity over the past year and a half due to it often being paired with the “chill guy” meme on social media. I watched as much of the crowd exchanged looks of recognition. Margaret played several more songs, which all varied sonically as she used different synthesized sounds and played with varying tempos. Most of them included vocals, which Margaret sang through a layered, harmonized, and autotuned vocal chain that made them sonically striking. Margaret spoke a few times during the set about how nervous she was, but I wouldn’t have known. She played a strong, varied set and ended her show with a statement of gratitude for Ichiko Aoba and the audience.
After the stage crew took down Gia Margaret’s stage setup, they began putting Ichiko Aoba’s set together. In the center of the stage was a simple wooden chair facing the audience that sat behind two microphones, monitors, and a music stand. To the left of the chair was a wooden guitar stand, and to the right was a wooden table with a synth, a glass of water, and a vase full of roses. To the left of the stage was a large luminescent globe that was situated so that Japan faced the audience. The setup was simple and cozy, much like Aoba’s music. She entered the stage wearing an elegant white and silver dress with her guitar, sat down, addressed the audience, and began playing.
The next hour and a half was filled with ethereal tunes, beautiful vocalization, and masterful guitar playing. Ichiko Aoba played a mix of songs from different albums, unreleased songs, and covers, including “Rondo of the House of Sunflowers” from the Ponyo image album. She employed a wide variety of guitar and vocal techniques with seeming ease, including using a cartoonish voice during the unreleased song “Sayonara Penguin”. Overall, her demeanor during the set was very kind, soft spoken, and sometimes silly. She switched between speaking Japanese and English throughout and kept a caring and genuine tone, checking in on the audience every now and then and even opening a letter that someone in the audience brought for her. During the middle portion of the set Aoba switched from playing her guitar to playing the synth, which added a nice tonal variety to the set. At the end of the show after returning to the stage for an encore, she unplugged her guitar and played her final song completely acoustically as the crowd watched in total silence. It was a moment of genuine connection and awe. Throughout the entirety of the show, Ichiko Aoba commanded the audience’s attention with her raw musical ability and kind energy, and even brought a few people around me to tears with the emotive nature of her playing. It was a beautiful show to attend, and I would do it many times over if given the opportunity.