Joe Wong is the Los Angeles-based, Milwaukee-raised multi-instrumentalist, podcast host (The Trap Set) and composer behind buzzworthy shows including Master of None, Russian Doll, Ugly Delicious and Awkwafina is Nora From Queens more. He is set to release his Mary Timony (Ex Hex, Helium)-produced debut album Nite Creatures on September 18th via Decca Records and today he shares the double single for album tracks “Minor” / “Nuclear Rainbow.” “Minor” is a portrait of romantic claustrophobia and “Nuclear Rainbow” is a timely track about the type of heightened existential dread not unlike the kind running rampant at this particular moment in our history (“Nuclear rainbow throws shadows of dread over the kingdom of comfort / Billions of people who haven’t died yet searching for permanent shelter”).
“Minor” / “Nuclear Rainbow” follows Wong’s debut single, “Dreams Wash Away,” which is featured in the finale of the widely-praised Netflix original series from Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward and comedian Duncan Trussell, The Midnight Gospel. The video for “Dreams Wash Away” was produced by the Emmy award-winning animation studio Titmouse and features re-contextualized elements from the show including characters and backgrounds combined in new ways. Watch the “Dreams Wash Away” video HERE.
Nite Creaturesfeatures luxurious melodies accompanying Wong's deeply personal lyrics. The album was written in the years between his father suffering a stroke in 2010 and his death in 2019. The result is an album that – in the cinematic detail of one of Wong's film scores – explores the intersection of melancholy and joyful surrender.
Most of the songs on Nite Creatures feature a core ensemble: Wong on vocals, drums, bass, guitar and keyboards; Timony on lead guitar and backing vocals; and harpist Mary Lattimore, who recently garnered an avalanche of critical acclaim for the spectral minimalism of her 2018 solo album, Hundreds of Days. The basic tracks were recorded at the secluded Gatos Trail Recording Studio in Joshua Tree, California and the album was mixed by famed, depth-scouring Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann.
