Following their collaboration on 2021’s Oscar winning Drive My Car, Eiko Ishibashi & filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi have returned with a deeply inspired synergistic exchange: Evil Does Not Exist, a feature film that evolved from Eiko’s absorbing new soundtrack of the same name (out June 28). Today, Eiko releases the film’s melancholy love theme and title track: “Evil Does Not Exist”.

In full orchestral flower, “Evil Does Not Exist” scores the passage of a thousand leaves and streams, places in time that, once gone, won’t ever be returning. In Eiko’s charts, the violins strive and reach through the canopy to the sky above, while cellos march funereal and resonant among us who remain, a multitude of voices crying with love and sorrow for whatever survives.

Eiko’s Evil Does Not Exist music harmonizes effortlessly with the state of nature as depicted in Hamaguchi’s feature, a nuanced tale of humans’ uneasy efforts to maintain co-existence with the delicate state of the planet. Her score was central to the film’s production, as it was initiated originally to create a visual counterpart to Eiko’s live performance — which resulted in both silent film GIFT, only presented with Eiko’s live accompaniment, and Hamaguchi’s celebrated new film (Best Picture – BFI London Film Fest, Asian Film Awards; Silver Lion – Venice Film Fest; Best Score – Asia Film Awards). Eiko has since performed the score in front of several sold-out presentations of GIFT in New York and Chicago, to much fanfare.

For as much as Eiko's music informs the film narrative, experiencing the soundtrack on its own is a deeply moving experience. Making us happy that Evil Does Not Exist exists, in relative permanence on vinyl and digital platforms for all to enjoy, come June 28, 2024.

Eiko Ishibashi GIFT Performances:

6/29 - Taipei, Taiwan @ Taipei Zhongshan Hall (Taipei Film Festival)
11/5 - London, UK @ The Clapham Grand