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Title: Music For Home Vol. 2: Redemption Artist: Dae Kim Label: mü-nest Release date: 19-Feb-2021 EP pre-save link: https://orcd.co/daekimredemption

Tracklist: 1. Reductive Ruin 2. Lingering Lash 3. A Song For The Wounded

Two years have been passed since Dae Kim’s debut effort, Solace, was released. In need of diversion, he drew attention to circumstances that was unusual to his forte, ranging from producing for singer-songwriters to several yet to be released projects. The exploration, in which allowed him to diversify and improve his compositional ability and musicianship that obeys electro-acoustic driven solo efforts, ended with Dae’s latest single, Clemency. To embellish his carefully curated discography, he returns with the latest EP entitled, “Redemption”.

As the 2nd instalment from the "Music for Home" series curated by mü-nest label - a series that focuses on home-listening music that captures the mood and feelings of our daily life during this unprecedented period in pandemic, “Redemption” centres heavily around the original intention of music making, in isolation. An absolution of every places, that Dae’s love of music has visited in past years up until present. The ambiguity of drones layering one another to create intricate textures, that slowly reveal musical motifs, obviously draws off from the work of “A Winged Victory for the Sullen”.

Despite his musical foundation of Ambient Electronic, the songs obey strictly to the value of entertainment, trying to fulfil musically rich arrangement without any measures that repeats without certain progression. For instance, straight-forward, minimal yet enhanced by its layers of texture, created through various of methods and sources from sampling to a synthesizer is a clear homage to IDM or trip-hop artists such as Four Tet, Boards of Canada and Autechre. With the melodies that carries the song forward, the EP becomes much more apparent with such intentions. While glistening ostinated and minimal guitar lines states clear influence likes of “The Strokes”, in context, for the first time, he tries to remain his thoughts in communal aspects.

About Dae Kim:

DAE KIM is a music composer, multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker (born 1993 in Seoul, Korea) residing in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His composition typically revolves around soundscapes of electronica and ambient music which he mainly utilises key-based instruments ranging from different synthesisers and rhodes. As he continues to expand his palate of different soundscapes, Dae Kim has recently incorporated guitar and accordion into his compositions. Much alike to artist such as Vangelis, Ennio Moriconne and Nils Frahm, Dae Kim shares similar ambience with his usage of orchestration and synthesisers. Noteworthy for his versatility in creating songs of various genre, Dae Kim’s compositions consist of rich emotions, thrusting drums patterns and quirky scratching techniques that embedded his characteristic through each song.

Website: https://www.dae-kim.com

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Tracklist: 01. EVENFALL 02. OBSCURE DUSK 03. SINUSOIDAL PIRR 04. SOLEMN SOLACE 05. NIGHTFALL 06. INTERMISSION I : HÆTU 07. ETHEREAL COSMOS (ft. Okamotonoriaki, Kent Lee) 08. ANDROMEDIDS 09. COSMIC INFLATION (ft. Flica) 10. INTERMISSION II : ARÊTE 11. DAWNFALL

EVERY SINGLE DAY, OUR LIVES REVOLVES AROUND A SPIRAL OF SYSTEMATICAL LOOPS OF ACTIVITIES THAT SEEMS TO STATE OUR EXISTENCE IN THIS EARTH. THE MUNDANE DAYS AND ROUTINES THAT WE ENDURE AWAITS THE ARRIVAL OF THE WEEKENDS, WHERE WE SEEK COMFORT AND REST. THE CYCLE REPEATS TO FULFIL ONE GOAL AFTER ANOTHER, WHICH WILL LAST THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. WE CONSTANTLY SEEK FOR LOVE, FILLING THE EMPTINESS INSIDE WHENEVER IT COLLIDES WITH SOLITUDE. IN THIS DAY AND AGE, IT IS INEVITABLE THAT SOCIAL MEDIA AND MATERIALISM HAS OFTEN PLAYED A PART IN THIS FACADE TO SHELTER OURSELVES FROM THE ABYSS OF THE INSECURITIES SCREAMING FROM WITHIN. AMONG ALL OF THESE CATASTROPHIC SELF-SEARCHING EVENTS, YET IRONICALLY AT TIMES A BLESSING IN DISGUISE, WE FIND OURSELVES SEEKING FOR SOLACE

And like anyone of us, a Korean born musician, Dae Kim fnds his comfort in his frst LP, entitled Solace. In the midst of his soul-searching voyage, it has occurred to Dae that there is no other way to fnd comfort in life than fulflling one’s mandate, which in this case for him is by making music. Just like the mechanism of nature in this earth, every element took place to serve its core purpose. Hence, throughout this album, Dae was able to portray his perspective of this expedition through a soundscape of the living world. The three main themes entitled “Evenfall”, “Nightfall” and “Dawnfall” acts as a mould to the album with it’s looping melody lines and thematic structure.

Working for more than two years for his album, Dae Kim has took the approach of combining acoustic instruments from rhodes, piano, guitars, accordion to analogue synthesisers and turntables to create sounds of many colours. After spending countless nights in his bedroom drafting from one melody line to an ensemble track, he was fearless in trying new sounds and arrangements. With a mixture of electronica, ambient and acoustic, he was able to create songs that carries strong messages with a heartfelt innocence. As you could find the profound usage of these instruments throughout the album, it is hard to deny that Dae’s core inspirations such as Vangelis, Ennio Moricone and A winged victory of the Sullen (just to name a few), has played a part in shaping the overall soundscape of this production.

Playing a signifcant part in bringing this album to its fruition, is a strong line-up of musician collaborators. Bassist Kent Lee has showed his ability as a versatile musician through songs like “Obscure Dusk”, “Solemn Solace” and “Hætu” which carries the weight of the album’s theme between its heartwarming bass lines. He also did an additional composition for the seventh track, providing the drive and thrust for the song. Besides that, renowned ambient/electonica musician, Flica added an eccentric touch to the track “Cosmic Inﬂation” with his overdrived keys and alluring melody lines. It is as though in the midst of these indentation, there is peace and calmness. Last but not least on the featured artist is the Japanese born composer, Okamotonoriaki. Through his simple and benign repetition of vocal and harmonies, Okamotonoriaki was able to bring forth a sense of resolution through his work on the track “Ethereal Cosmos”. The album was mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama from Tokyo, who brought the entire album to it’s life and fruition.

“Solace” is Dae Kim’s journey of fnding his comfort amongst his vagrancy and it has been a rewarding one thus far. In this 52 reminiscing minutes of music, it stands for something more for the listeners. A time to reﬂect or a moment of catharsis, it is Dae Kim’s biggest hope for everyone who stumble upon this album to fnd their own solace amidst the pandemonium of our generation.

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