Full of the melancholic yet determined words inside Doma’s heart, “DOMA” feels like an ambivalent consolation for listeners.

DOMA is folk duo consisting of Kim Doma (vocal, guitar) and Gunwoo (guitar). Their debut album, “Drifting To An Island For Reason I Don’t Know” (2017), made them one of the most delicate and subtle folk act in the country’s indie scene. The second album was set to arrive after four years after their debut, and many people were excited about it – including me. Tragically, the hope was almost lost on March 17th, 2021, with the news about the singer Doma passing away abruptly at the age of 28.

Thankfully, it was not the irrevocable end for the duo. Gunwoo and other friends of her (including Cacophony, the co-producer of the album) continued the effort to accomplish the second recording, and we were able to hold the posthumous second work, “DOMA”, at the end of December 2021. “Left alone in the band DOMA, I wanted to make ‘DOMA’s album’ rather than just a memorial work. That is why the title of the album is ‘DOMA’,” Gunwoo commented about the record.

Full of the melancholic yet determined words inside Doma’s heart, “DOMA” feels like an ambivalent consolation for listeners. We won’t be able to listen to her calm and ethereal voice in new songs, but these last efforts continue to exist against the flow of time. Clear and transparent sonic elements are revolving around the voice of Doma, including the subtly fascinating guitar contributed by Gunwoo. It’s like turning pages of a novel, slowly but firmly expanding the world inside our hearts.

Listening to the album in another year’s December once again still feels aching to me. I still miss this much-beloved singer-songwriter’s presence, and the personal memory spent with DOMA’s music. However, even the death cannot block the connection and communion created by the music. DOMA proved it, and it gives me the will to live in this bittersweet winter.

Stream “DOMA” on Spotify.