Story time, with disclaimer:
I don’t want to alarm anyone by appearing to be an obsessive fangirl. I’m not about that life. But sometimes you can’t help but get excited when one of your favorite artists posts some of his or her favorite music. With that said….
Everyone and their mama knows I’m a huge fan of Dean. Well, on January 29, he released the video for his most critically successful track to date, “Instagram.” The song has hat a peak of popularity among fans and artists alike, the heights of which Taeyang’s “Eyes, Nose, Lips” reached.
One of the artists who’s taken a shining to the song is the lead singer and guitarist for band SE SO NEON, Hwang So-yun. Dean posted a video of her performance of the track on Yu Huiyeou’s Sketchbook, a show in which he invites some of the artists he’s taken a shine to perform their songs as well as songs they’re currently listening to.
End story time.
What you all really want to know is why I’m recommending this band. The long and short of it: So-yun’s voice is…. It both hurts and heals the soul. There’s a roughness to it that itches the ear, but there’s such a smoothness to her delivery it manages to sooth the scratch. Warm honey mixed with bourbon. Hot chocolate decorated with rum.
But when we take in the musical depth of the band itself, it’s impossible to not fall in love. I’ll just say it, drummer Im Kang-to is a revelation. He’s obviously got some jazz training (either homespun or professionally) because his improvisation and brush work is so damn brilliant. He matches pace so well and with such clarity with So-yun’s husky vocal and bassist Mun Paen-si’s backbone that altogether the sound just gives one the most amazing feeling of serenity.
Their quirky take on pop music reminds me a bit of a band like Tom Tom Club or even prominent bands of the Psych-Soul movement in the late ’60s such as Rotary Connection. It’s not too much of a stretch, that comparison. Trust me, the band jams as hard as the best of them!
Do yourselves a favor and get into SE SO NEON. You won’t regret it. In fact, it may be the first brilliant decision you make in 2018.
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