Ki Oni - Indoor Plant Life (2021)

Ki Oni is the pseudonym of ambient artist Chuck Soo-Hoo named after a creature in a Japanese monster movie – a tree with a human face that spews flower pedals from its mouth. Soo-Hoo similarly inhabits a surreal space between the artificial and natural worlds, a liminal zone where the fabricated blends with the fluid and music is a river, flowing of its own accord.

Soo-Hoo's newest release is concerned with the confluence of human artifice and the infinitude of nature. For example, Indoor Plant Life approximates the swishing of a houseplant next to an open window, a symbol of a year spent shut inside. Of the album's creation, Soo-Hoo says: "Inspired by quarantine life, I resonated with my indoor plants."

Soo-Hoo splits his time between working at dublab, L.A.'s freeform radio station, and co-hosting Contact Wave, the station's resident ambient and experimental music program. He has previously released music on Inner Islands, Atlantic Rhythms, Doom Trip, Geographic North, Never Content, and Pyramid Blood.