6 tracks. 5 years in the making. All 4 himself. Ken Park is the musical project of San-Diego native, New-York based artist Liam Creamer. His self titled EP Ken Park dropped on February 26-- and with it, the sounds and sentiments of a young man’s turbulent yet thoughtful timeline.
Literally recorded in bedrooms over several years and on both coasts, the album channels Creamer’s most honest currents of life, from leaving home and finding footing in a new city, to creating with purpose and play as he ages. It’s a sonic diary, expressing the whirlwind of changing timelines and the feeling of seriously just ‘figuring it out.’ Each track reflects those transitions, leaning anywhere from distressed guitar crash-outs to velvety acoustic wanderings. It’s hard to imagine that they were each written in only 1-2 days, as true leakings of the heart and brain.
In a conversation with Creamer, he dug into the dirt of this authentic practice, emphasizing how important it was that he breathed the music out this way—in only a single night or two-- rather than caving into long-term pressures of perfectionism in the production process.
“... It is the cornerstone of how I would like everything to feel when I make music,” he said. “I just did it and it happened very quickly-- spur of the moment, kind of magical, came from the ether—and I was doing what I did as a child where I was really able to turn off the noise and not think: ‘is this lyric good or not? Does this sound right?’”
He likened the feeling to ‘cutting out the noise’ and treating things ‘like a playground.’ To foster a pure expression of himself, he had to learn not to stress about creating and focus on if the music was simply serving how he felt.
“Each song happens to be very specific moments of time that I can literally place myself in... and know exactly where and how I recorded it,” said Creamer. “...and I think as months and years passed, it’s developed to meaning.”
Now, as the album releases, Creamer finds himself in New York City—miles away from his original stomping grounds in San Diego and Idyllwild, California. The smoke-stained city doesn’t necessarily produce the same sunlit melodies from the West Coast, but it adds a new roundness to Creamer’s sound, nudging him into darker, rugged instrumentation. NYC has also charged the young artist’s practice with a jolt of intensity that he had not experienced in the leisurely backyard shows where he first grew his music. These days, Creamer finds himself under the same quickened metronome that spellbinds most New Yorkers, driving him to contribute to his art in some way every day.
“I have had this thought about quality over quantity in songwriting, and I think there’s love in the in-between,” he said. “I would like to write a song every day, but that’s just not the kind of writer I am. But I at least do something everyday that puts me ahead.”
He’ll carry around a notebook to fill with ‘bumper-sticker lines,’ which he will later ‘Frankenstein’ into riffs, melodies, and eventually songs. This way, he can remain thoughtful through his creations and still avoid ‘noise’ in doing so. For his next project, Creamer plans to sculpt his sound in a studio, and with a longer overall timeframe. But for now, he recently released music remains an immediate, vulnerable snapshot of his thoughts and feelings.
When asked about his lasting thoughts on the EP, Creamer gently laughed. His face was full of joy.
“I hope that this is—this is funny for me to say—I hope that the EP can still translate that I am a happy person.”
Ken Park stands as a document of Creamer’s evolving personal and creative life, authentically bearing witness to all his highs, hits, and heartbreaks. Creamer is proud to finally publish it publicly:
“There was no bullshit there,” he said. “It was pure.”
To listen to the EP Ken Park or to explore more Ken Park, visit the link https://earth-agency.com/artist/ken-park/.
You can also watch videos/visualizers for his newest work here.
