OHYUNG has shared “nevada,” the second single from forthcoming album IOWA, arriving March 6th via Trans Music Archive.
The track opens with a massive boom—field-recorded and looped throughout as a glacial melody pulses beneath, intertwined with choral voices and wailing synths. “Whether thunder or gunshots, the sound is an awakening of the spirit,” says Lia Ouyang Rusli, the Brooklyn artist, DJ, and film composer behind the OHYUNG project. Of “nevada,” Rusli describes the track as evoking “open land and a holy reverence for space and openness. And in that space there may be a painful memory, but that memory is softened by time, letting beauty in.”
The single arrives with a one-take visual that continues from the video for lead single “all dolls go to heaven.”
IOWA marks Rusli’s return to ambient music following last year’s You Are Always On My Mind, which Pitchfork praised as “an extraordinary burst of pop.” The album documents Rusli’s year living in Iowa City between 2023 and 2024, when she became embedded in the local DIY scene while composing scores for films Happyend (dir. Neo Sora) and Sorry, Baby (dir. Eva Victor).
Rusli describes the record as “an ode to the vast beauty of the Midwest, fields of corn, rolling hills, harsh winters, tornado sirens, and the trans people that survive despite the threat of right-wing christofascism.” Built from field recordings, manipulated devotional samples, and restrained synth pads, the album strips back Rusli’s earlier maximalism in favor of ghostly textures and atmospheric restraint.
OHYUNG will celebrate the release with a performance at Stone Circle Theatre in Ridgewood, New York, on March 6th. Presented in partnership with Trans Music Archive, the event will feature YATTA and Bitepoint, serving as a fundraiser for the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund.
Pre-Order IOWA: https://shop.transmusicarchive.org/products/ohyung-iowa
Shows
February 18 @ Forestlimit – Tokyo, Japan
February 27 @ Seendosi – Seoul, South Korea
March 6 @ Stone Circle Theater – Ridgewood, NY