Misery - OKADA (2018)
The American northwest seems to be home to dozens of interesting downtempo electronic and bedroom producers, many of whom seem to be tailored specifically to my brain chemistry.
Gregory Pappas, aka Okada, is maybe not quite on that level, but he’s close. He describes the music as “ambient dirge” music. It reminds me of some of The Field in places, or the more sublime music Moby used to make before he became a rock star.
Gorgeous wordless or mostly-wordless vocals play over piano and endless expanses of synth wash and reverb, creating music that sounds as lonely as it does beautiful.
The six tracks here each clock in at over 12 minutes, giving plenty of space to develop the slow-moving sound to its full potential.
It’s one of those transcendent experiences with long-form electronic music that I love to experience from time to time. Truly lovely.
