maya ongaku

maya ongaku is a Japanese trio rooted in the coastal communities surrounding Enoshima, an island 50 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, where childhood friends Tsutomu Sonoda, Ryota Takano, and Shoei Ikeda first played and recorded together in the studio tucked behind a beachside vintage shop. Their music pulls from 1960s and 70s experimental rock, Japanese folk, and collective improvisation, guided loosely by what they call 自然発生 (shizen hassei) - spontaneous occurrence, the notion that music, like life, arises from conditions rather than blueprints. Their 2023 debut Approach to Anima established the template; the 2024 EP Electronic Phantoms pushed it deeper into synths and drum machines and onto stages across Europe and the United States, earning them a slot at FUJI ROCK and a Best Breakthrough Artists award at the inaugural TOKYO ALTER MUSIC AWARD. Their third project, Nothing Space Music, recorded in near-total isolation at a purpose-built studio near a seaside shrine, arrives in 2026.