Name: Takuro Okada
Nationality: Japanese
Occupation: Guitarist, producer, sound artist, composer
Current release: Takuro Okada's The Near End, The Dark Night, The County Line is out March 7th 2025 via temporal drift.

If you enjoyed this Takuro Okada interview and would like to know more about his music, visit him on Instagram, and bandcamp.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I don’t get a sense of being projected with any specific visual information. For me, when I listen to music, I feel that the kind of mental action taking place is similar to when I am reading poetry. It's like a leap of faith from one sound image to another, a vague image, memory, or emotion. Or, the act of listening can evoke memories and emotions that I may have completely forgotten, which have nothing to do with the music.

I haven’t thought about it too much, but perhaps I have had fewer opportunities lately to listen to music with my eyes closed. But listening to music is not always a serious situation for me. Sometimes my body responds to experimental music and starts dancing, and other times I listen to beat music with my eyes closed.

I also like to listen to music with someone and have a conversation about that music.

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

With headphones, I am listening to music from the inside of the sound.

With a stereo system, I am listening to music with the sound in front of me.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

Jim O’Rourke “Visitor”
Haruomi Hosono “Tropical Dandy”
Don Cherry “Brown Rice”
Michel Redolfi “Immersion / Pacific Tubular Waves”



Archimedes Badkar “Archimedes Badkar II”
Talk Talk “Laughing Stock”
Joni Mitchell “Hejira”
Blind Willie Johnson “Dark Was The Night - Cold Was The Ground”



[Read our Jim O’Rourke interview]
[Read our Tim Friese-Greene of Talk Talk interview]

My musical tastes have always changed, but I listen to these records all the time.

Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

Water is one of the sounds that interests me a lot. I'm fascinated by the beauty of the sound of water itself, and I'm also interested in the nature of the water itself, which keeps changing shape from moment to moment and never stays in the same place again.

It isn’t necessarily beautiful. Japanese have also experienced the trauma of water brought about by nature. The sounds of the natural environment are often cited as motifs for healing benefits, but nature is both beautiful and terrifying.

Even when I'm holding an instrument in my hand or working with electronics, I want to play as if I were looking at the water and finding the sound from it. I often think about water-like conditions.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

There is a lot of music that I don't want to hear, but there may not be too many sounds that are painful to listen to. (Although if I could I wouldn't want to hear the squeaking sound a sponge makes when it is rubbed against glass...)

This may have nothing to do with this question, but I remember a story about a baby who was not yet able to speak and would fall asleep when listening to white noise. But when he became 3 or 4 years old and his conscience became clear, he became afraid of the sound, got angry, and started crying.

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

I like spaces that have natural reverberation.

As I answered earlier, I like the sound of water and wind shaking plants and trees, and sometimes I am fascinated by repetitive mechanical sounds such as an outdoor unit or train wheels.

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

I remember entering an anechoic chamber once in some installation, but it was not a very pleasant experience. This in itself is a vague memory for some reason, combined with a dream I had one day, a book I read long ago, and a conversation I had with someone.

A cave is one of the most interesting spots for me. The deep reverberations that are so far removed from reality give me sensations that I do not feel in everyday life.

It is said that the first paintings of mankind were murals painted in caves. It is easily conceivable that the special acoustic space separated from the outside world may have had some effect on people's imagination. The murals are said to have depicted cows and other familiar animals, and in this special acoustic space, people imitated the sounds of these animals.

That was the first music for human beings ... It is a story that seems to be possible.

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

I like to play music outdoors when no one is around.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

When I'm working on music, I always feel like it's like grasping a cloud.

How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

The acoustic environment definitely affects the human body and mind. When it comes to music, we are now in an era of more music than any other time in the long history of mankind.

I am not sure if society as a whole is healthy at this time.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?

The first band I ever formed in my life was with my Shih Tzu, Puddin, who lived with me when I was a little boy. I played the harmonica and he sang in a really clear, opera-like voice.

Later, I played the same way with Bunta, a French bulldog who came to our house, and he too loved the sound of the harmonica and sang like talking blues. Where did their singing come from?

Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?  

As anyone who has lived with dogs for a long time knows well, even if you cannot communicate with them directly through language, you can still communicate with them through tone of voice and nuance.

I do not believe that language is the only way to communicate with them.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

I don't know how effective they are, but I try not to use earphones or headphones as much as possible. Even when I go out into town, I don't listen to music through earphones. Even when mixing, I try to listen to sound through speakers these days. I also avoid loud monitors on stage.

Fortunately, I have never had any problems with my hearing, but I am always afraid of hearing problems.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Being surrounded by sounds, no matter what the sounds may be, makes you feel the presence of some kind of other.

When I was a child, when I turned off the lights and went to bed, silence came, and I couldn't sleep because I was constantly tormented by the image of the sheer vastness of the universe and the endless time while staring at the ceiling.

That said, I believe that I can only converse with myself in silence.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

I find it interesting that we have eyelids to close our eyes but our ears do not have organs to close them.

Today, it is easy to imagine that there are more people staring at LCD screens in quiet rooms than people with their eyes closed and their ears closed to each other.