ASKA MATSUMIYA is a music creator whose work moves effortlessly across film, fashion, advertising, and visual art, continually exploring new ways to create her own distinctive sonic world.

Her credits include the films Always Lalisa and After Yang, Netflix’s BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky, as well as music projects for fashion houses including Chanel, Hermès, Miu Miu, and Prada.

From classical piano to punk and electronica, Matsumiya weaves diverse influences together with an organic fluidity. Her music gives form to emotion, moves the listener, and creates environments and spaces of its own.

Now, Matsumiya is taking that exploration further with WAVY, a sound-based app designed to make intentional listening part of everyday life.

We spoke with Matsumiya in Paris about her unconventional musical journey.

 

 

 

Where Sound Becomes Space

IROHA: First, could you tell us about your new project, WAVY? What inspired you to create it?

ASKA: We live in a time when we're constantly being stimulated—visually, digitally, and emotionally. We're surrounded by information. I wanted to create an accessible tool that could simply allow people to be present.

Sound is very interesting because you don't have to look at a screen or learn anything. You can simply listen. Your relationship to sound can change how you feel and how you experience a moment.

With WAVY, I wanted to explore listening not only as relaxation, but as a practice—a way of becoming more aware of your internal state.

The idea behind WAVY is that listening is a practice. Sound changes how you feel, and human craft matters. Ancient wisdom deserves modern tools.

 

WAVY’s preset screen, featuring a selection of sounds to suit your mood.


Creating a New Way to Listen

IROHA: There are many different meditation apps out there, but what makes WAVY unique?

ASKA: While most meditation apps just loop the same sounds, WAVY's unique generative engine creates an endless, ever-changing soundscape using real instruments. Since the patterns never repeat, it naturally helps your brain relax more deeply.

IROHA: I listened to “YUGEN,” and it has such beautiful, detailed sounds. Is it based on your compositions?

ASKA: No, it’s not a composition in the usual sense. WAVY brings together recordings of ancient instruments, human artistry, and modern technology.

For example, we recorded antique Tibetan bowls that are 200 or even 500 years old with an artist who has spent years learning how to play them.

200yrs-500yrs old antique Tibetan bowls

 

I made WAVY with Dr. Luke Fishbeck, who contributed his expertise in sound and　technology.　The app includes sounds intended to support different states of mind and body.

Visually, I collaborated with the Japanese artist Yoshirotten, and we created a design that is very minimal while also elevating the overall experience. I wanted it to feel Japanese.

There is a preset called “YORU,” for example, which some people listen to throughout the night or use when putting their babies to sleep.

The “YUGEN” experience includes nature sounds, and you can mute or unmute particular instruments, so you can actually create your own sound environment.

I would also like to grow WAVY’s library through collaborations with artists, Indigenous communities, and healers.

At this point in my life, I want to make things that help people—things that give us more tools to feel good. I don't see the point of making something if it cannot offer something meaningful to others as well.

WAVY offers ever-changing sounds, allowing you to mute or unmute individual instruments.


Creating Space Through Music

IROHA: You also worked on ALWAYS LALISA, which will be released in theaters in October.

ASKA: Yes. This is another project I worked on following the Netflix documentary BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky.

IROHA: What drew you to this project?

ASKA: When a project comes to me, I have a personal bible that I always go back to. Does it create space for women? Especially for me, as an Asian woman, does it create space for women like me? Can it shift something, even in a small way?

“ALWAYS LALISA” opens worldwide in theaters on October 12, 2026.

 

 

Making Music Is Like Cooking

 IROHA: You have worked with so many different instruments and sound palettes throughout your career. What do you look for in sound?

ASKA: I just love sound. I am very sensitive to it, and it can really shift the way I feel. That sensitivity is one of the reasons I created WAVY.

Even when I compose, I work with many different palettes of sound. For me, making music is like cooking. You might think, “I like tomato, I like garlic, I like salt,” and then you combine the things that feel good together. It is intuitive.

Music is one of the most organic things in my life. I learned piano before I could speak, so music was really my first language.

                   Aska playing crystal bowls.

 

IROHA: Your work often feels like more than music alone—it creates an atmosphere, or even a place to enter.

ASKA: I love creating a world, not just music. I am interested in making experiences that feel like more than sound. Even with WAVY, it is not only about hearing music. It can change how your environment feels.

My son is three years old now, and his first sentence was, “Nan no oto?”—“What’s that sound?” We spent so much time outside listening and asking each other what we could hear. Sound is a huge part of my life.

 

The Moment Everything Changed

Matsumiya was born in Osaka, Japan, and moved to the U.S. at the age of 12. She was classically trained on piano from the age of three.

Aska's first performance with orchestra at age 8.

 

IROHA: You began studying classical piano. How did your path lead you into electronic music?

ASKA: I have always followed my intuition. I studied classical music throughout my childhood, and my dream was to attend Juilliard. I was in a music conservatory after school, preparing for that path.

But then I started watching indie and punk bands perform, and it completely blew my mind. Within a month, I quit school, joined a band, and went on tour. I was only 16. My mother cried all day. But that was what felt right to me.

After that, I moved through punk bands, installations, electronic music, and many different genres.

Aska with her electronic band ESP

 

A Career Built on Instinct

IROHA: How did you first begin working on films?

ASKA: It was never a goal. It wasn't planned at all. It just started happening naturally.

My friends would make little films or fashion videos and ask me to put sound on them. Then one friend made a film and asked me to score it.

Through that process, I realized that one of my strengths was being able to portray emotions through music. So, the process was very natural to me. It just kind of opened up on its own.

IROHA: When you're composing for a film, where do you begin?

ASKA: I really try to connect with the film and the emotions of the characters.

For each scene, you have to decide what you want to focus on and portray through music.

And I don't always start by watching the film. Sometimes I start from a script or from conversations with the director. At the beginning, it is about feeling the emotional world of the scene. Once I have an initial idea, I can shape and edit it to the footage.


What Ryuichi Sakamoto Taught Her

One of the most meaningful moments in Matsumiya's career came while working on After Yang, when she had the opportunity to work with the legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

IROHA: Is there a particular memory or episode from your time working with Ryuichi Sakamoto that you will never forget?

ASKA: I grew up listening to his music with my brother and have been a huge fan. When they told me it was going to happen, I couldn't believe it.

When I met him, he told me something that really left an impact on me. He said, “I understand it's important for you to do film work, but it's more important to take your own space and not take on any jobs, and to create your own music.”

He said I needed to make sure to do that in order to continue doing this. His words stayed with me. In fact, they helped inspire me to return to my own personal work.

I started working on my personal project, called Hitotoki. It is a sound-and-visual installation: music composed by me.

I think I really love creating a world, not just music. I love creating an experience that feels like more than just sound. It changes the way your environment feels. I'm interested in making things that are an experience.

 Exploring healing sounds since 2016.

 

Keep Space for Your Heart to Feel the Wind

IROHA: Finally, what would you say to young people hoping to find their own creative path?

ASKA: You have to follow your heart. I do not know how everyone finds their own way, but I think that is the only way to exist: stay connected with yourself and follow what feels true.

There is a quote by Yayoi Kusama that moved me when I was young. She said that we should always make space for our hearts to feel the wind. I thought that was so beautiful. To have space to feel the wind, you have to be present.

If you are not present, it becomes difficult to stay connected to yourself.

Everything should begin from there—being connected to yourself and then moving forward.

 

PROFILE

Aska Matsumiya is a Japanese-born, Los Angeles- and Paris-based composer and artist whose work spans film, television, advertising, and contemporary music.

Classically trained on piano from the age of three, she later immersed herself in punk, indie rock, electronic music, and experimental sound, developing a distinctive musical language that moves fluidly across genres.

Matsumiya’s film and television credits include Kogonada’s After Yang, Always Lalisa, Netflix’s BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky, Halle Berry’s Bruised, Julia Hart’s I’m Your Woman, Skate Kitchen, HBO’s Betty, and Steve Buscemi’s The Listener.

Her music was featured as the main title theme of Spike Jonze’s short film I’m Here, earning Best Original Music at the AICP Awards.

Her creative work also extends into fashion and advertising, with collaborations for brands including Chanel, Hermès, Miu Miu, Prada, and Porsche.

In 2026, Matsumiya developed and launched WAVY—a new, immersive form of sound app that combines the sound of real musical instruments with the latest audio technology in collaboration with Dr. Luke Fishbeck.

Known for creating immersive sonic worlds that evoke emotion rather than simply accompany images, Matsumiya continues to explore the space between composition, sound, and visual storytelling.

 

LINKS

ASKA MUSIC

ASKA MATSUMIYA INSTAGRAM

ASKA MATSUMIYA SPOTIFY

WAVY Deep Listening

Written by Eri Kurobe, Photos: Courtesy of Aska Matsumiya