Ki Oni - A Leisurely Swim To Everlasting Life - Cassette Tape

Building upon the aesthetics established on 2021’s 'Stay Indoors And Swim', and with a more intentional focus on listening, 'A Leisurely Swim To Everlasting Life' serves as a mediation on the relationship between sound and its environment for Chuck Soo-Hoo's Ki Oni project.

“I wanted to give tribute to my grandmother who sadly passed away earlier this year,” Soo-Hoo says. “In Chinese traditions, family and friends of a recent deceased would leave their light on for several days to help guide the spirit home to say their last goodbyes to their loved ones before they fully move on to the afterlife.”

Inspired by childhood memories of Soo-Hoo’s grandmother and summers spent swimming and eating from her garden, A Leisurely Swim explores the idea of a spirit floating into the afterlife, with glittery microtones as a serene means for expressing this abstraction. The results of these efforts shimmer and shine. A beacon for all souls –– living or in transition –– to bask in the warm glow and find their way home.

But in order to fully explore this concept the recordings needed grounding in reality, to include a piece of the real world. “This was the first time I used field recordings as a base for each composition," says Soo-Hoo. "I wanted to capture the outside sounds as when the spirit would float all over the earth visiting their loved ones. I would record on my iPhone while I was walking around my neighborhood, riding my bike, on the metro, at dublab, or the rare LA rain from my window.” With these artifacts collected, a series of longform improvisational sessions built out the architecture of A Leisurely Swim To Everlasting Life. A flow state, absorbed in the act of listening while creating.

(Music For Floating Spirits)