Mocean Worker

Mocean Worker, a.k.a. Adam Dorn, has spent the last two decades galvanizing the sounds of electronic, jazz, soul, and funk to produce a singular and unmistakable style. Now, after an eight-year release hiatus, he returns with his tenth LP, BOOMBOX: a high-energy, deeply reverential, danceable, and genre-rejecting project that marks a fresh chapter in Mocean Worker’s acclaimed discography. Dorn’s bass playing is the heart and soul of the album: “It’s a love letter to the bass,” Dorn says. While his career originated with his virtuosic bass playing, he opted not to play on his own records for his first eight albums—he focused on hyper-detailed mini-sampling, digital production, and synthesizers. “I shied away from showing my bass playing skills because it was my entry into the music business as a session musician, not an artist and a songwriter. Those days and that mindset are now over,” says Dorn. Now, bass hooks take center stage in BOOMBOX’s melodies, with a careful intention to avoid the overwrought cliche of the bass “solo” The titular boombox is equal parts metaphorical and material. “In my studio sits an early ‘80s JVC boombox, and absolutely perfect example of the era. My father used it to check and evaluate mixes during his process of making some incredible records”. Above all, BOOMBOX epitomizes the musical philosophy of Mocean Worker—it is at once an elegy to art and artists of a bygone era and an upbeat celebration of the sound of the present.