FEMMUSIC-Erika Dohi – Myth Of Tomorrow

Today, Osaka-born, New York-based composer-pianist Erika Dohi announces her second album Myth of Tomorrow, out October 24 via Switch Hit/Figureight.

Following her solo debut I, Castorpollux on 37d03d, which garnered international acclaim from outlets including the BBC and The New York Times, Myth of Tomorrow marks an artistic leap from a virtuosic talent emerging out of NYC, where Dohi performs in numerous ensembles and has lent her talents to everyone including Ichiko Aoba, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Wadada Leo Smith. Inspired by Taro Okamoto’s striking mural of the Hiroshima bombing of the same name, Myth of Tomorrow merges historical trauma with Dohi’s own personal upheaval, seamlessly combining elements of electronic, jazz, ambient, classical, and chamber pop to create transcendent, otherworldly songs.

Produced by Grammy-winning composer William Brittelle (Room Full of Teeth, Julia Holter), with support from Metropolis Ensemble and contributions from poet Carol Féliz, trumpeter Adam O’Farill, violinist Lauren Cauley, and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, Myth of Tomorrow is distinctly Dohi’s own, yet unlike anything we’ve ever heard from her before.

On the atmospheric lead single, “Ame Onna,” out today alongside the announcement, we hear Dohi’s processed vocals, warbling as if sung underwater, over fluttering synths and the steady beat of a cymbal hit. But then, just after her voice crescendos, the song transforms: a thrumming bass drops into the song, shuffling and doubling on itself until it melts into the surrounding instrumentation.

Accompanied by a music video by Michael VQ, Dohi explains the song’s central concept: “Since I was a little kid, I knew I was an ame onna—a ‘rain woman.’ In Japanese folklore, she’s a yōkai who brings rain wherever she goes. I was born in June, right in the heart of Japan’s monsoon season, and I felt like I was always surrounded by rain. It followed me on school trips, birthdays, any day I really wished it wouldn’t. It even rained on my wedding day. Over time, I’ve learned to embrace that part of me—not as bad luck, but as something quietly powerful and deeply tied to emotion. ‘Ame Onna’ was born from that emotional landscape.” She continues: “The song weaves personal myth with the universal tension between holding on and letting go… Rain teaches us that there is strength in vulnerability, and that release can be a form of resilience. In a world that often silences emotion, this song is a quiet permission to cry, to feel, and to honor the beauty in impermanence.”

Expanding her already eclectic sonic palette, Myth of Tomorrow incorporates traditional Japanese instruments, the iconic Fairlight CMI synthesizer, and her own mesmeric singing. As an artist in residency at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 studio in partnership with Wally De Backer aka Gotye’s Forgotten Futures, Dohi had access, for the first time, to a galaxy of new instruments and production tools that led her to integrate elements of electronic and hip-hop into her music.

Dohi began writing Myth of Tomorrow in the earliest days of the COVID-19 lockdown, recording alone on her phone in her apartment. “I had just moved back to New York City, only to find the city—and my professional life—suddenly paused. In that stillness, I confronted what I’ve come to call my ‘inner jails’: the emotional and mental confines we carry with us, no matter where we are.” Born from solitude and stillness, “Myth of Tomorrow emerged from a realization that we are never truly alone,” Dohi remarks on the album’s conceptual ties to universal interbeing, “It’s an invitation to look inward, to sit with uncertainty, and to find hope and resilience in our shared human experience.”

https://femmusic.com/2025/08/11/erika-dohi-myth-of-tomorrow/