Korean multi-instrumentalist and composer Park Jiha returns with her third studio album called The Gleam.  Conceived as a meditation on the intersection of music and light, the work takes the listener through the moods of a day, from daybreak to nightfall, across eight tracks with all instruments performed by Park.

She achieves a variety of textures and moods with the four instruments used – piri (a reed instrument), saenghwang (a mouth organ, in fact shown on the album cover), glockenspiel, and yanggeum, a hammered dulcimer which is often the melodic core of her compositions.

The album starts off with At Dawn, in which layered resonant bell tones evoke the rising of the sun, eventually transitioning into sounds which evoke a horn of old, a sort of ageless reveille summoning the listener to begin the day.

Next, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, with two different breathy textures weaving melodies that are sometimes harmonious, at other times diverging, evoking two people in conversation.

As the sun moves higher into the sky so to speak, the yanggeum features more prominently, from more spacious sounds in Light Way or The Way of Spiritual Breath to a more pulsing or driving feel in A Day In… or Restlessly Towards.  They exhibit a balance of melody and texture, most notable on The Way of Spiritual Breath, with eerie icy textures ebbing and flowing underneath the more straightforward sweetness of the melodies.

As the day winds down, we hear Nightfall Dancer, blending saenghwang and glockenspiel, more floating and deliberately paced than the previous tracks.  The album then concludes with Temporary Inertia, the longest track on the album.  It’s more dissonant, yet with subtle rhythmic touches such as bells that recall a clock striking.  The overall effect being to bring the listener into a mediative state.

What strikes me about this album is the sense of balance and flow.  The music is spacious and “breathes”, yet I wouldn’t call it ambient.  It feels improvisational yet restrained, never losing sight of its core.  It has an unrushed quality yet also an underlying drive, whether within each piece or overall, as the inevitability of the rising and setting of the sun is reflected in the music.  While respecting its historical roots, it feels fresh and contemporary, or even “out of time”, to be enjoyed as much in 2222 as in 2022.