No-No Boy released his album, 'Empire Electric,' on September 29th. His previous work was part of his PhD dissertation, with albums that looked at WWII Japanese incarceration camps, his mother’s Vietnamese family history, and his own racial identity. This latest album also explores Asian American history, family, and identity, but was not part of his degree.

Julian Saporiti of No-No Boy talks with Emily Fox about the stories and histories he’s sharing in this new record, such as how Asian sailors arrived in Oregon two centuries before Lewis and Clark. They also discuss how the album was largely inspired by a trip Saporiti took to a Buddhist monastery after feeling narrow-minded through his experience in academia.