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painting whales, part 1

by Sun Kin

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about

Since an early age, I’ve loved watching nature docs, especially those that focused on whales in the open ocean. As someone terrified of the ocean, and who was uprooted and moved across the world more than once as a child, it felt very empowering to imagine myself as one of these large creatures flying around without need for tickets or passports. Whales make the largest migrations of any mammals.

This release was inspired by the photograph that was the basis for the painting on the cover. It's a picture of a beaked whale breaching, its mysterious, dolphin-like form silhouetted against the icy shelf behind. My friend Dan Bromfield (Bromf, Gand) tweeted it, suggesting that it should be the cover for a chilly ambient record, and after doing a bit of research on beaked whales, I could not stop thinking about the idea. Beaked whales are some of the deepest-diving and least-known of the whale species.

With the scale of these animals, and of the ocean itself, it felt like every element should have a sense of its own massiveness, how its movement would be felt elsewhere in the track. It’s amazing to me that whales and other aquatic animals and birds are not only connected to the Earth and the ocean, but also to the moon, which moves these elements steadily across the globe. The way the bass moves in these songs was intended to represent these cosmically influenced, shifting tides.

Beaked whales’ migratory patterns are in danger from man-made sounds, and recent research has shown that whales grieve for their fallen kin deeply and for a long time. A mother whale whose calf has passed will often carry them with her over thousands of miles. "Losing a Calf (Sound Pollution)" tells the tale of a mother beaked whale losing her calf to an errant sonic beacon, and features moaning cello from Oakland's Marissa Deitz (Sucker Crush).

credits

released April 5, 2022

This release features Kabir Kumar performing synths, Casiotone and guitar. It also contains field recordings from apartments in Oakland and LA

Phil Di Leo added whirrs to "Get Accustomed to Life Under Pressure" Marissa Deitz played the cello on "Losing a Calf (Sound Pollution)"

Mixed by Kabir Kumar
Mastered by Geoff Saba at Itinerant Home Recordings in Oakland, CA

Art by by Pixeleiderdown, based on an original photograph by Ted Cheeseman

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about

Sun Kin Los Angeles, California

Sun Kin is
Kabir Kumar,
born in Bombay, broadcasting
tunes from Los Angeles
with friends.

Please send thoughts: goodfeels.feelsgood@gmail.com

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