KCRW Exclusive: Stream GRMLN’s Debut EP

GRMLN is the alias of 19-year-old UC Santa Cruz student Yoodoo Park, who splits his time between his university, his native Japan and where he grew up, right here in Southern California.

All three locations feel present in the songs of his debut EP “Explore”.

Melancholic references to beaches, a couple fighting on their wedding day, “Depressions“, and “Summer Nights“, are all delivered with the dreamy charm of having been created in a dorm room and/or a garage.

The title “Explore”feels as though it applies to the artist’s thoughts as much as it does to any landscape(s).

Park is working with a bare minimum of instruments; guitar, bass, and a few different forms of non-drum percussion. The spareness of the melodies and instrumentation, and impeccable attention to detail greatly enhance the evocative lyrical spirit of this EP.

There are seven songs collected here and only one of them comes close to approaching the 3-minute mark. Altogether it’s a 15 ½ minute listen, but none of the songs feel underdeveloped. Quite the opposite, in fact, the songs offer just enough to get your imagination going, and then you’re on your own.

Explore!

(Editor’s Note: Since the Soundcloud link to the full EP no longer works, here is an embed of one of our fave tracks, “Coral“.

GRMLN: “Coral” by adhocfm

The EP is out on Carpark Records on October 23 and they’ll be playing a show at The Echo as part of Part Time Punks on October 28.

–Marion Hodges