Check out and support this family from right here in Nagoya that makes beautiful & simple music in their home studio. I want to meet these people.

I dig this couple’s work because it celebrates the beautiful experiences we overlook in the mundane and ordinary moments of life. And I’m always a fan of artists who take less time promoting their stuff to get noticed and more time living ordinary lives trying to make sense of their experiences in this world - regardless of the attention they receive. 

All of that said, this couple has gotten their share of attention:

Rebecca first heard of Lullatone when her daughter was an infant and  she was looking for soft ambient music… Lullatone soon became a household favorite. Lullatone’s founders, husband and wife Seymour and Tomida, have released 9 albums, made music for films, commercials, apps, museums and much more for clients including Target, Adobe, Toyota, NHK, and MOMA.  They also host a weekly children’s TV show that airs in central Japan every Saturday morning. Their ideal live/work space? They are living in it. Here is a small glimpse into their simple house and studio, nestled in the north of Nagoya, Japan.

via Lifehacker.com and HermanMiller.com:

Built on a bed of indie film instrumentation and close mic’d coziness, Lullatone’s new album Soundracks for Everyday Adventures is their most expressive and expansive work to date. Hints of chamber pop, instrumental twee and modern classical weave seamlessly between the 15 pieces on the album.  

After years of composing music for films and commercials, Lullatone’s  Shawn James Seymour has broadened his musical language to include a palette of emotions absent in the group’s earlier slumber pop albums. On Soundtracks for Everyday Adventures, Lullatone explore the everyday magic of ordinary life - the reflective feeling of seeing a picture of your grandparents when they were a young couple, the thrill of riding your bike down a big hill, watching raindrops knock on your windowsill, the exhilaration of checking everything off of a to-do list early in the morning or simply going to buy some strawberries. It is a world where the mundane becomes meaningful.. and, at times, even magical. 

Like for the early scores of Wes Anderson’s films, there is definite a whimsical quality to the album. Flourishes of glockenspiel, intimate plucks of guitalele (a Japanese inventive cross between a guitar and ukulele), hushed strings, horns piano and brushed drums are all used in illustrative and imaginative ways. But, despite the intricate instrumentation, the tracks never feel cluttered or lose their clarity.  These are carefully considered compositions. Airy and gentle, they owe their understated quality to Lullatone’s life in Japan, where subtlety and good taste are a key to life. The entire album was recorded in the group’s meticulously organized home studio which was recently featured on Lifehacker.com and Apartment Therapy for its design conscious take on simplicity in life design. Like their studio, this album shows a modern take on minimalism, one filled warmth and intimacy, and proves that sometimes a lack of clutter is all that is need to inspire the imagination.

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Lullatone