The textbook definition of sleep paralysis is the temporary inability to move or speak when falling asleep or waking up. In essence, it’s a disconnect between the brain and the body while the latter is still stuck in REM mode.
“The mind wakes before the body,” says New York City-based singer/songwriter Liam Creamer (a.k.a. Ken Park). “You’re aware of your own vulnerability but powerless to act.”
If that sounds like great fodder for a song, Park is already way ahead of you. In fact, he wrote “Sleep Paralysis,” a sweetly sinister, intricately picked, Laural Canyon-flavored folk ditty, when he was a 17-year-old high-school student in San Diego. It’s the earliest of six tracks on his upcoming self-titled debut. The song you hear now is an enhanced version of the original iPhone recording from more than half a decade ago. That’s pretty much how Park approached the rest of the EP, recording in bedrooms on both coasts.
“The song became my way of giving voice to that feeling of being stuck,” says Park of the EP’s first single. “It’s about wanting something intensely while knowing it remains frustratingly, persistently just out of reach.”
We’re proud to premiere Ken Park’s “Sleep Paralysis.” The new EP is out February 26 via Todo.
—Hobart Rowland
