PRESS RELEASE – THE FRAGMENTED MEMORIES AND WARPED TEXTURES OF I’M ALRIGHT, I’M OK MARK A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE WORK OF COMPOSER AND PRODUCER, DAN LANGA
June 3, 2022
New York, NY – Music often offers us space to pause and process the chaos around us. The tracks that comprise I’m Alright, I’m OK gave composer, producer, and arranger Dan Langa that much-needed space after three recent moments of uncertainty. The Northampton, Massachusetts-based artist employs detailed texture and sweeping layers to make music that meditates on the ups and downs of his own life over the last two years. In the process, he offers us a place to ponder our own experiences through music.
I’m Alright, I’m OK, Langa’s debut album, employs his skills as both a producer and composer. Langa has extensive experience in composition, working alongside film composers and studying with composers like Julia Wolfe and Robert Honstein at New York University. But he’s always had an eclectic range of interests: Growing up near Detroit, he was surrounded by a plethora of musical styles, from folk to soul to classical. In recent years, he’s expanded his production craft, gaining inspiration from electronic artists like Burial and Tim Hecker. The resulting album is made of wafting ambient, techno beats, and cavernous statements, showcasing Langa’s interest in creating lattices of blended sounds. Each track on the album weaves personal field recordings from moments in Langa’s life with electronics and acoustic solos by guitarist Evan O. Adams, drummer Josh Harmon, violinist Isabel Ong, vocalist Sabeth Perez, and saxophonist Stratøs.
Throughout I’m Alright, I’m OK, a lo-fi quality cloaks every melody, serving as a vehicle for thinking about the past. Many tracks on the album unite small, personal memories with expansive melodies that balance darkness and lightness in gentle waves. “Intro” opens the album with this pattern: At Christmas a couple of years ago with his family, Langa recorded everyone rubbing their fingers along the rim of their drinking glasses, which made a ringing sound. Throughout the track, that field recording is abstracted, and the drones Langa forms bloom from a gravelly crunch into a rainbow of vibrant colors. It’s not about the specificity of the memory, but rather how it feels to remember it.
Dan Langa is a composer, producer, and arranger creating music that explores bold and vivid textures. He holds a particular fascination with electroacoustic music and incorporating elements of the natural world into his work.
Dan has received awards, grants, and recognition from Du Vert à L'Infini Festival, RED NOTE New Music Festival, Hot Air Music Festival, Fire Island National Seashore, Bang On A Can Summer Festival, Sō Percussion Summer Institute, Fresh Inc Festival, The Ear Competition, Amherst College, New York University, and the University of South Carolina Spark Laboratory.
He is one of the founders of ‘the present kairos,’ a multimedia project exploring language and the kaleidoscopic core of individual words. With this project, words are presented as deconstructed representations of their meaning through music, visual art, and poetry in hopes of breaking through preordained definitions. Dan’s work for multimedia has included music for advertisements, scores for numerous short films, and most recently a setting of artist, Aidan Koch’s 2016 collection of zines, ‘After Nothing Comes.’
I’m Alright I’m OK is available for purchase on Bandcamp and is streaming everywhere now. For more information, visit cmntxrecords.com/records/im-alright-im-ok.
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