“Doff” by Will August Park

"Doff" by Will August Park is Northern transmissions Song of the Day. The title-track is off the artist's upcoming LP, out 12/6 on UNO NYC
Will August Park photo by Tom Keelan

Will August Park announces his debut album, Doff, out December 6th via UNO NYC. Ahead of the LP arrival, Park has shared lead single and title track. After scoring various independent films and shorts, Park is finally releasing his debut album. Doff’s sound world intersects at the late 90s electronica’s flirtation with drum & bass, the modal jazz of Bill Evans, and the creeping, aural hypnotics of experimentalists like Laurel Halo.

Of the lead single and title track, Will explains: “‘Doff’ is about trying to find a through line in your sense of self over different periods of life. Parsing through what you can change about your psyche and what will never change. How you see yourself and how the world sees you. For better or for worse. For me the video is asking if we can really change who we are.”

Park initially conceived the record after moving back home to Ventura, CA during a personal breakdown. Thanks to sponsorship by Yamaha, Park wrote the second half of Doff while on tour in Japan and in dialogue with the city of Tokyo. The record’s staggering sequence spins an introverted traveler’s monologue, insisting ‘underground music should be held to the serious regard of classical compositions’ unlike back in the West. A cinematic journey through self realization, wavering trust and collaging ruptured genres makes Doff a repeat listen. Linking with Paul Corley for co-production, mixing & mastering injected flavors of his purview — namely on the giant shoulders of Oneohtrix Point Never, Tim Hecker, and Nico Muhly.

Park insists this is not sad boy ambient music. Doff’s confident stillness and austere attention to detail call on classic Eastern-inspired sounds of his favorites Ravel and Debussy, and in turn, their reflexive impact on synth pioneers like Sakamoto & Toshifumi Hinata who Park namechecks in his experimental productions. Following in the wake of UNO NYC iconoclasts like Venezuelan songstress Arca, R&B diva Ian Isiah, and enfant terrible painter Chino Amobi, Park finds a synthesis that holds up to the wide spectrum of the roster, walking the line between Kuwaiti composer Fatima Al Qadiri and ambient queen Malibu.

Will August Park
Doff
Tracklist

1. Doff
2. Nocturnal
3. Two Pains
4. Bird Language
5. Daly
6. Annuum
7. Sea People
8. Denial, Creation
9. Last Life
10. Bad Year

Pre-order Doff by Will August Park HERE

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