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“I guess when it came to my mind, I genuinely felt like I was going through a transformation,” Oh tells New Times from Los Angeles.
With one other 12 months coming to a detailed, Oh will probably be taking on the decks at Club Space on December 30 — warming up for the DJ trio, Meduza. “Not to sound cliché, but if people have seen me before, they can expect a signature Sohmi set. I like to play dance music on the deep spectrum, so rather than being genre focused, it’s just going to be deep, energetic, sexy, and groovy.”
Oh was born in the US and raised mostly in Korea. She is a classically trained pianist who devoted her life to music. But one fateful night, Oh saw Rüfüs Du Sol at Coachella, and their rich melodies led her into the underground. (Oh admits this was not the Berghain 145+ BPM hard techno set she had once thought.)
“It felt like an answer to a large gaping hole that I wasn’t even aware of,” she recollects. “It was as if there was a hole, and someone filled it with caulk, and it just explained so many things. It was like, ‘Oh my God, this bridges so many things together. And it had this almost classical-like quality.’”
Shortly after, the artist Sohmi was born — and in little time, went from DJing at mates’ homes to being a resident at LA’s Sound. She then started taking part in worldwide, together with Ultra Korea and Coachella, and based her label, Permission.
Oh avoids generic style labeling as a lot as doable; as an alternative, she flies beneath the “deep” banner. If it spins and makes the gang sway, Sohmi isn’t one to query it.
“I think you limit yourself a bit by sticking to just club music, and you miss out on people hearing you from different avenues and who you are sonically and different life contexts like yoga or a dinner playlist.”
Oh is in place. The DJing nerves are dissipating, and he or she feels much less shy about incorporating her voice into her music. Oh believes that because the avenues between mainstream and underground merge, the necessity for vocals is important — an ethos adopted by her colleagues like Australia’s HAAi.
“I think I was shy. I don’t know if I have a good explanation as to why, but I think a part of it was that, for women, gaining respect is a battle we are still fighting, so maybe I was nervous because I wasn’t going to be understood as a producer. Maybe it’s rational, and maybe it’s not, but I think it may have been that subconsciously.”
For instance, her first solo observe as Sohmi, “Somebody,” is luscious tropical fruit hanging from a tree. The synths cost up and explode, and a kick stomps the listener into consideration. Oh’s somber however highly effective vocals carry the observe to deep melodica.
“Sit on the floor little darling/Know what you’re worth, momma told me/The running be hard but keep fighting/Someday my love/you’ll be somebody.”
“I think part of the reason for that is that dance music is coming into the spotlight more and not the murky shadows of the underground. So, for the average listener, they need some vocals to latch onto. I don’t know if the average listener could listen to a six-minute minimal techno track — they need something like a memorable vocal because dance music is becoming more mainstream. I think, overall, it needs some of those elements.”
“Somebody” is a part of a four-piece EP that will probably be launched early in 2023 — Oh’s most intensive work thus far. She additionally hints that later subsequent 12 months, there will probably be an album’s-length quantity of labor composed of membership and non-dance flooring music.
“With this EP, you will really hear that pop sort of sound,” she says. “One track will not be a club record at all — I think it’s genreless, and I wanted to showcase that my music is beyond club music but within the realm of electronic music and pop. Later in 2023, I will have an almost album of club-focused tracks, and I think it will be a nice balance.”
2022 was the final word check 12 months for Oh. She traveled the world and made a number of pit stops in Miami. She additionally promised a extra pop-adjacent model of electrical music.
All have been completed, however 2023 sounds much more promising.
“I think I scratched the surface. ‘Somebody’ was the first track I put out this year, so to say I accomplished an electronic/pop sound may be a little premature, so I need to put out more output, and then I can really say, ‘Now we’re talking.’”
Sohmi. With Meduza and Roujeee Tunes. 11 p.m. Friday, December 30, at Club Space, 34 NE eleventh St., Miami; 786-357-6456; clubspace.com. Tickets value $20.39 to $48.49 by way of cube.fm.
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