“1945, GILA RIVER” - MODEL PERIL SINGLE, 2024
Jeff Wang is the mind behind Model Peril, a space for Boston-area musicians to perform and record music (“think NPR with no Tiny Desk, but a bookcase”), and is a musician in his own right. In preparation for a new concept album based on Asian-American experiences in history and the diaspora, he has collaborated with artists for design as he releases singles.
“Gila River” is about the Gila River Relocation Camp baseball team, the Eagles, which was formed during the internment of Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066 by President Roosevelt during World War 2. Written from the perspective of a batter, the song describes a typical highschool baseball game, craving a win and approval from your coach. As we pull back, the darker background to this teenage scene is revealed: the players, the teams are being held in an internment camp.
To illustrate this, we collaborated on a piece that would initially focus on baseball, America’s favorite pasttime, and invoke the feeling of watching a high school baseball team while the sun sets in the early days of summer warmth. As the eye focuses, the rows of quick housing become clear, and the barbed wire and watch tower become obvious. An eagle circles on the outside of the camp both to represent the team dreaming of life on the other side of barbed wires, and also the promise of freedom from the United States which is just out of reach.
Check out Model Peril’s links here, and the song “Gila River” on Spotify here.
“Gila River” is about the Gila River Relocation Camp baseball team, the Eagles, which was formed during the internment of Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066 by President Roosevelt during World War 2. Written from the perspective of a batter, the song describes a typical highschool baseball game, craving a win and approval from your coach. As we pull back, the darker background to this teenage scene is revealed: the players, the teams are being held in an internment camp.
To illustrate this, we collaborated on a piece that would initially focus on baseball, America’s favorite pasttime, and invoke the feeling of watching a high school baseball team while the sun sets in the early days of summer warmth. As the eye focuses, the rows of quick housing become clear, and the barbed wire and watch tower become obvious. An eagle circles on the outside of the camp both to represent the team dreaming of life on the other side of barbed wires, and also the promise of freedom from the United States which is just out of reach.
Check out Model Peril’s links here, and the song “Gila River” on Spotify here.