DoYeon Kim works in a space informed by jazz and free improvisation, imbued with vestiges of folk music. She plays a gayageum, a plucked zither, which is not an instrument normally found in these contexts. Joining Kim are violist Mat Maneri, bassist Henry Fraser and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. The musicians are well attuned, bringing out detailed interactions between subsets of the group and the quartet as a whole. The opening track, “The Beats of Distant Thunder,” is a case in point, with Kim and Maneri beginning the proceedings in the lead, only to have Fraser and Sorey lock in a double time groove that spurs the action further forward. Maneri and Fraser trade solos, and Kim plucks a line imitating Sorey’s use of cymbals. The whole group brings the piece to a rollicking conclusion.
Kim vocalizes, with considerable intensity, on “Walking in the Dream.” This encompasses chanting, spoken word, and singing. After a microtonal turn by Maneri, “Sun Shower” picks up speed and Kim keens a powerful melody. “Walking In the Dream,” has a slow buildup, with vocals beginning delicately and moving to a full-throated cry amid terse harmonies played by the gayageum. Maneri joins Kim, spicing up the melodic material with sliding tone interjections. “Whispers Among Dawn” features a duet between Kim and Fraser, dovetailing in imitative fashion. “Diffraction” contains an impressive gayageum solo, followed by Sorey and Kim playing a rambunctious duet of their own.
At nearly sixteen minutes, “Linear System” is the longest piece on the album. It begins softly, with harmonics and repeated notes. A slow build ensues, and by a third of a way into the piece the group plays at full tilt, with multi-stops from Maneri, angular attacks from Kim, and a roaring rhythm section. A brief oasis occurs, only to have more rapid playing, emphasizing the upper register, ensue. A denouement with a general decrescendo leads to a final vocal turn by Kim, whose melismatic singing provides an eloquent close to a fascinating long form piece. “Calculus of Our Souls” is the album’s final piece, and here Kim’s singing and spoken word performance eventually is double-tracked, with a duet chanting in full cry. Maneri follows with a pizzicato solo. Kim returns, building her voice from singing to chanting to a scream. A bracing conclusion, to be sure.
"I believe my first recital was in 2011, during my sophomore year of college. It was my first experience performing in a professional setting and I prepared for it very intensely. At the time, I was practicing almost obsessively to the point where I would sometimes end up in the emergency room or receiving IV treatments on weekends. I also suffered a serious injury to my left wrist during that period, which made things even more difficult. Looking back, I think I was pushing myself beyond my limits because I was so determined to prove something to myself through that performance. I practiced to the point of exhaustion, but at the same time I experienced a huge amount of growth as an artist. It remains one of the most intense, but also one of the most formative experiences of my life, and I still feel proud of it." -DoYeon Kim
With her gayageum – a 12-string zither – avant-garde musician-composer-vocalist DoYeon Kim blends traditional Korean music with free jazz. “
With her gayageum – a 12-string zither – avant-garde musician-composer-vocalist DoYeon Kim blends traditional Korean music with free jazz. “When I was in fifth grade, I went to a traditional Korean music performance with my father [and] was immediately drawn to its sound,” said Kim, 34. “I loved that I could directly pluck, pull and press the strings to shape the sound myself. I could feel the vibration and the subtle changes in tone through my hands, which made the instrument feel incredibly expressive to me.”
Ahead of the release of her May debut album, “Wellspring,” Kim spoke about her life and music in an interview from her Brooklyn home.
DON'T BLINK! in the SOURCE CODE are 115 gifs of kpop idol DOYEON KIM (1999, korean)! the gifs are from 2022 - 23 & 269x151 and already sharpened :)
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