Marty Hicks

Marty Hicks is a Tokyo-based pianist, composer and sound designer from Melbourne, Australia.

A graduate of the jazz improvisation course at The University of Melbourne (Faculty of the VCA), Marty became a MEXT scholar in 2015 and completed a Masters degree at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2018, where he majored in music composition for film, animation, and other media arts.

An active member of the Tokyo arts and music community, his work as a solo musician has culminated in acclaimed album releases on record labels both inside and outside Japan, and as a composer & sound designer his work encompasses music and sound for film, commercials, sonic branding, and art installations, as well as collaborative projects with dancers, painters, and animators.

His musical collaborators include Luke Howard, ermhoi, Audrey Powne, Georgie Darvidis, Michiru Aoyama, and others. He has written the musical score for films by Shinobu Soejima, Kazuki Sekiguchi, Mariona Lloreta, and Akin Omotoso, as well as contributed music and sound design for documentaries and commercials for a host of companies including Sony, Uniqlo, Rakuten, Dior, Banana Republic, and more. His installations and sound-based artwork have been featured at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Chinretsukan Gallery at TUA, Gallery SOSI in Kanazawa, and at various public spaces in Japan.

He currently lectures in the Music Design faculty at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, and runs two Tokyo-based boutique music labels: M-KEN COLLECTIVE and aloeswood_records.