I met Cory Levinson of Kohwi at Glasslands Gallery during the 2010 CMJ Music Festival. The dude was wearing a bright-ass flourescent orange snow cap, so it was hard not to notice him. And when he took the stage early in the night (before some outstanding sets including Cool Runnings, Yellow Ostrich, and a "show-stopping" Gobble Gobble) it was hard not to notice the potential in the Michigan native. The set was loose, a bit out of control, weird solo electro cymbalese scratchings- but you could already see where he was going, and see that he was capable of getting there, and that was a pretty damn exciting thing to see.
A lot of that potential is getting tapped on Hidden Trees , the first (as far as I know) full length LP under the Kowhi moniker. The album pulls in a lot of different directions; mostly I’d characterize it as an ambient delight, from a kid who struts his inner Richard D. James while keeping abreast of what’s new & now in electronic music. The track "rem" is an especially quiet, meditative number- perhaps not indicative of the album as a whole, but sometimes the outliers provide a particular insight, and I love the slow build and more bombastic finish.
Enjoy! And don’t forget to check out Cory’s other project, the impressive Mellows , for some serious Pioneer Valley type indie rock. Download some righteous Mellows here .
Stream the track "rem"
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