by Ben Hogwood, using the press release
Kyoto-born, Berlin-based composer and producer Midori Hirano announces The Juniper Tree, her new album recasting the score for the debut film by Nietzchka Keene, out October 2 via Viernulvier Records and Thrill Jockey. Originally commissioned by Kunstencentrum Viernulvier for its acclaimed Videodroom series, in which contemporary experimentalists reimagine the musical accompaniment of classic arthouse cinema, the score now receives its first standalone release.
A feminist retelling of the Brothers Grimm story and Björk’s first on-screen role, The Juniper Tree premiered to critical acclaim at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival. Shot in haunting black-and-white on location in Iceland, it follows two sisters who flee after their mother is executed for witchcraft, standing as a powerful allegory of misogyny and its consequences. “The film shows many raw aspects of human nature, such as madness, silence, loss, love, seduction, friendship, deception, self-preservation and innocence, but they are all expressed in a fantastically fragile way. The exciting challenge for me is to incorporate that fragility in the music while keeping its strength,” shares Hirano.
Coinciding with the announcement, Hirano shares two tracks: Take Me With You and Spell On You, which reveal two respective sides of the score—piano and synthesizer compositions, both imbued with the same sense of restraint as the film. On the former, Hirano explains: “This is a piece played in the scene where Margit (a medieval witch played by Björk) is searching for her mother on the shore. A simple ambient synth tone repeats at regular intervals, slowly changing in timbre, reflecting Margit’s quiet calls for her mother.” On Spell On You she adds: “A simple piano piece, evoking a sense of both eeriness and sacredness. This appears multiple times throughout the film whenever Margit’s sister Katla casts a spell.”
While composing the music for The Juniper Tree, Hirano drew on her own memories of touring Iceland, which included a stop at a waterfall featured in the film and rendered in sound on “Mother’s Path.” Folktales, like the origins of The Juniper Tree, are often attempts to contend with humans’ place in the natural world, and both the film and Hirano’s soundtrack draw their sense of breathless wonder in part from the sensation of being engulfed by one’s environment. Hirano captures the relationship between the transcendental awe that is felt as supernatural and the private feelings of being immersed in that experience, creating a musical dialogue between the self and what lies beyond.
In the final sentences of her liner notes, Anna Bogutskaya says, “what we call Margit’s witchcraft is maybe just her willingness to listen.” Just as Keene seems to break down barriers between binary poles, Hirano uses both electronic and acoustic means to communicate the film’s emotive cues. Through sound, we understand what lies beyond sight, beyond convention, and with this new soundtrack we hear the story anew.
Listen to “Take Me With You” and “Spell On You” above and stay tuned for more from Midori Hirano ahead of the full release of The Juniper Tree on 2 October via Viernulvier and Thrill Jockey.
Published post no.2,935 – Thursday 2 July 2026
Arcana.fm 