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Album: Serenade by Sunwoojunga (4)

Can you find another all-rounder like Sunwoojunga? A stunning full-length 정규 album shows off her ability from every perspective. “Interview” sets up a cosy but also mixed mood. “Run With Me” soaks everyone in the Korean sentiment with powerful, empathetic strings and vocals.

“Serenade” tells stories wittily and “Multi Player” joins smoothly, starting a much loosen atmosphere which continues to the end. To some extent, the appealing of consistency inevitably leads to similarity until “Superhero” cracks everything open and gives space for lights to come in. The second half of the album is much more dynamic, such as the quirky and experimental “My Birthday Song” as a great example of using synthesisers.

Listeners could sharply grasp the emotions Sunwoojunga would like to convey through her unique and solid vocal skills. Get astonished by “Run With Me” then step by step, track by track, enjoy the singing freedom with her and hold a parade in “Life” and “Invisible Treasure”.

“To Zero” resets everything and “Classic” keeps the pop music form but stylish in every way, signing her name proudly on the album with this brutal end.

Lyrics are so important in this album since Sunwoojunga often starts her creation by writing first. Though for non-Korean speakers it may be difficult to understand the delicate meanings in lyrics, it is also quite interesting to first speculate everything only based on rhythms, melodies and scattered English, and then to check the translation to see whether new ideas were generated. Just try to find some time and listen to it non-stop as if you were wandering around in the amusement park with the artist.

23 April 2022

Album: Long Blue Light by Leif Vollebekk (3.5)

“Long Blue Light” could be in one of your relax playlists, just to sit back and unbend yourself. Great at conveying solitude and casualness with light lyricsim and the end falling apart. It could also be in your road playlist since it is easy to sing along.

“29 #Strafford APTS”, a Bon Iver cover, is much like a statement or a memoir of the artist’s teen age. Instruments are beautifully knited. It is much subtle and melodic with refurbished overdubs if comparison between cover and the original is necessary. But to me it is more like a different flank of a hill, this one tracing back the history but looking forward to a mist-lifted future.

23 April 2022

Album: Ambient 1: Music for Airports by Brian Eno (5)

Ahead of its era, “Ambient 1: Music for Airports” does far more than staying in the background of a futuristic airport but for everyone to attach emotions and make the most of it. “1/1” is filled with zen fermatas, carrying notes like waterdrops, doing everything but also nothing to empty your mind. Repetitions might be dreary or tedious for some people, but there are differences in the background to be detected and understood if trying to immerse oneself in. “1/1” is also the most suitable and functional one among the four tracks.

“2/1” unfolds with generous and expansive vocals. Sunlight, but rather intensified, tranquil and remote. It waits and remains, saves time for you to walk into it, to take a sunbath, on your own initiative. Then “1/2” comes in as the stopover to see the piano and vocals blending with each other in detail.

You may get lost in the ambitious synthesiser sounds of “2/2”. It scales up quite suddenly. Even though the former track lasts more than 10 minutes, not much connecting and digesting job has been done. However, concerns could be eased when it plays to the middle, especially for listeners willing to swing with the inner flow, grasping the opportunities to discover layers and depths.

The importance of this album is effortlessly being told by “1/1” standing alone, while “1/2” tells stories of vocal use, frequency and the blanks in between. Both of them are easy to adapt and drift away. “2/1” and “2/2” may be less graspable generally but still have their narrative.

23 April 2022