PARK JIHA - Philos - LP

Park Jiha’s debut album “Communion” – released internationally by tak:til last year –  drew well-deserved attention to the young Korean multi-instrumentalist/composer’s vivid soundworld. The widely acclaimed album graced 2018 critics lists at The WIRE, Pop Matters and The Guardian. Her new album “Philos”– which she calls an evocation of her “love for time, space and sound”– is every bit as inventive, elegant and transcendent as her debut.  

Park Jiha’s new album “Philos,” is both an extension of, and a swerve away from, her previous record. It shares its predecessor’s patience and deeply resonant hypnotic effects. It similarly looks to the future, while continuing to converse with a rich instrumental language from the past. But the overall tone and intent feels much more interior and personal - more rarefied. This evolution was purposeful and integrated into the way the album was composed and recorded. Whereas “Communion” featured the classic sound field of a group of musicians playing in a room, “Philos” trades that for more density and concentration. Each sound has been given the artist’s full attention. Fashioned, blended and layered in the way that she hears it. Nothing surrendered to interpretation.