In the quiet solitude of an abandoned piano, a young Taemin Kim found his first language, a language of sound, emotion, and unspoken resilience. Born in South Korea and later forging his path in the United States, Taemin’s journey to becoming De/OS was never a conventional one. His story is not one of formal training or structured lessons, but of raw survival, an instinctual pursuit of expression that grew from tragedy into something transcendent. Losing his father at an early age, Taemin was thrust into a world of uncertainty. With no adult supervision to guide his creative inclinations, he found solace in the natural world and the broken keys of an old piano. The rigid structures of traditional South Korean education could not contain his restless curiosity, and he quickly became self-taught, drawing inspiration from the classical compositions of Bach and Beethoven that played in his mother’s home.

Yet, more than the masters of old, it was the silence between the notes, the rustling of the wind, the steady pulse of life around him that shaped his understanding of music. His compositions were not just melodies; they were reflections of the world he observed, the emotions he processed, and the invisible forces that connected everything. Despite his deep connection to music, Taemin initially pursued a different path. His fascination with the intricate interplay of order and chaos led him into the fields of engineering and emergency medicine. He studied the human body the way he studied music, as a complex system of harmonies and dissonances, structured yet unpredictable, fragile yet enduring. It was in this space, between science and art, logic and feeling, that Taemin’s identity as De/OS began to take form.

His work as an experimental artist, composer, and producer is a testament to this duality. Inspired by minimalist pioneers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ólafur Arnalds, and Arvo Pärt, De/OS does not merely create music; he sculpts soundscapes that feel as organic as they are ethereal. His compositions exist in a delicate balance between structure and fluidity, between human fragility and unbreakable spirit. Every note he crafts carries the weight of his journey, his past, his losses, his search for meaning, woven into immersive, emotionally rich soundscapes that transcend mere listening and become experiences of their own. With a career shaped by resilience, self-discovery, and a relentless pursuit of artistic truth, De/OS continues to push the boundaries of sound and emotion. His music is not just heard; it is felt, a quiet but undeniable force that lingers long after the final note fades.

On February 24, 2025, De/OS unveiled a sonic meditation unlike any other: Rise I, a composition that embodies the quiet power of human resilience. Inspired by Maya Angelou’s seminal poem Still I Rise, this track is not merely a piece of music but a poetic reflection on the uncontainable spirit of humanity, rising like steam from the depths of the earth, free and untamed. Drawing inspiration from the ambient brilliance of Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ólafur Arnalds, and Arvo Pärt, De/OS constructs a world where each note is deliberate, each silence meaningful. The piece unfolds like a slow-burning revelation, no sudden bursts, no abrupt climaxes, only a steady, hypnotic ascent. It invites the listener into a liminal space between motion and stillness, between struggle and triumph, echoing the very essence of what it means to endure.

In a world where music is often reduced to background noise or a fleeting distraction, Rise I by De/OS emerges as something far more profound, an immersive transcendence into the vast unknown. This is not merely a song; it is an odyssey into the depths of the human spirit, a celestial reverie that dissolves the boundary between sound and consciousness. From the very first note, Rise I does not introduce itself with fanfare but with a whisper, an ethereal presence that beckons the listener into its boundless, dreamlike dimension. It is the kind of composition that does not just play; it exists, hovering in the air like a sacred echo, drawing the soul deeper with each haunting melody. There is a rare purity in its essence, a quiet but undeniable force that envelops the senses and lingers like a secret known only to the heart.

The song’s opening is an exercise in restraint and atmosphere, an intricate interplay of minimalism and vastness that immediately grips the listener. The foundation is laid with a spectral piano, a series of sustained, almost weightless notes that shimmer like distant stars in an eternal night sky. There is something eerily beautiful about how these notes hang in the air, each one stretching into infinity before dissolving into silence. And yet, within this delicate emptiness, there is movement. A swelling, a pulsing, a gradual unfolding that is both hypnotic and deeply intimate. The progression feels organic, like a tide rising and receding, never hurried, never forced. It is as though the music is breathing, evolving with an unseen rhythm, wrapping itself around the listener with an embrace that is both ghostly and warm.

As Rise I continues, its magic does not lie in abrupt changes or sudden bursts of sound but in its sheer commitment to growth and transformation. The song does not remain static but expands with an almost imperceptible grace, layering harmonies upon harmonies in a way that feels as natural as the sky darkening before the arrival of stars. There is a patience to its evolution, a slow-burning intensity that builds without the need for excess. The rhythmic pulse remains steadfast, steady like the ticking of time itself, yet within that consistency is an infinite number of subtleties, textures that weave and intertwine like a delicate dance of light and shadow. The hypnotic repetition creates a trance-like effect, not in monotony, but in its ability to sink deeper and deeper into the listener’s consciousness, making them feel as though they are floating between dimensions, weightless in sound.

But beyond its sonic brilliance, Rise I possesses an emotional weight that is difficult to define yet impossible to ignore. It is at once deeply personal and universally resonant, carrying a sense of longing that tugs at the edges of the soul. There is an undeniable duality at work here, a balance between melancholy and serenity, between isolation and connection. The track does not dictate how one should feel, but instead, it allows the listener to project their own emotions onto its vast canvas. For some, it may feel like a hymn of resilience, a slow but steady march toward an unseen horizon. For others, it may evoke the quiet sorrow of looking back at a path already traveled, the ache of memories too distant to grasp. Either way, it speaks directly to something primal within us, something beyond words.

By the time Rise I reaches its conclusion, it does not feel like an ending at all, but rather a seamless return, like awakening from a dream that was too vivid to be imagined, yet too surreal to be real. The music does not fade so much as it dissolves, slipping back into the ether, leaving behind a silence that feels just as alive as the notes that preceded it. And in that silence, there remains an imprint, a lingering sense of something profound having passed through the air, something that refuses to be forgotten. Rise I is not a song that merely exists in time, it is a passageway, an experience that, once entered, alters the way one perceives sound, space, and emotion. De/OS has crafted something extraordinary, a piece of music that does not just whisper to the soul but lifts it, offering a glimpse of something beyond the veil, something eternal.

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