closeness by mari park

In e.e. cummings’ “somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond,” cummings describes the image of a flower opening, petals being opened by a lover’s delicate fingers and being enclosed in snow. In this evocation of intimacy vs. isolation, a double meaning of the word “close” is formed, defining the overarching narrative of proximity and delicate balance within mari park’s debut EP “closeness.”

Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, the Korean-Chilean American songwriter and producer mari park currently studies Classical Guitar and Music Technology. Through this contrasting periodization between the classical and the modern manifests an exploration of contradictions on “closeness”: the binding of ASMR-tinged vocals with digital artifacts (“sustain”), natural field recordings made uncanny (“fleet”) and shifts between slowcore antipathy (“birthday”) and glitch feminist electro-pop fantasies (“system”). It’s all meant to blur the traditional experience of the music listener, not just by genre, but by presence itself.

“I wanted to explore this idea of simulated intimacy and include sounds that are very “close”...the little artifacts, rustling, or jingling that sound like mistakes are actually purposeful, to make you (the listener) feel closer to me, as if you are in the room while I am making the song.”

To take the idea of “closeness” even further, park’s music is an insight into their own generation, presenting itself as a process of radical healing and externalization of political dilemmas.

“[My generation is] confused, lost, and are prone to succumb to the oppression we observe in the world around us and lose hope. It is in the best interest of these oppressive forces that we wash ourselves of our humanity and softness and close out of the world. The goal of my music is to embrace empathy. My music is for those labeled as “too sensitive”, those who are medicated and pathologized into numbness, and those who feel exposed and invisible at the same time.

This ethos of “closeness” can perhaps be encapsulated best with the opening track “closing,” which already states an end at the beginning of the EP, opening up its narrative for new possibilities. The final lyrics to the track glitch and loop until they burst into distortion, then quickly revert back into a small voice revealing itself not in final desperation but in the pervasive strength that is a reversal of its pain: find me when you’re still lonely.

LABEL ◦ DIGITAL PUNK ROCK SPIRIT

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