Lee Janghyuk
Vol. 2
RubySalon, 2008
Big pain, small songs
Lee Janghyuk’s second solo album took the center of such attention from many people at the end of 2008 that it was counted by some as “the album of 2009″ even before its release (its tricky release time made it hard to be considered in the best of 2008 list). His previous Vol. 1 (2004) was duly received favorably. I remember that album intensely fused insecurity and melancholy with a cautious expectation of the future.
Personally, his live performance was also impressive and amazing as to dominate audiences only with one guitar and voice. At that time, he sang “That day,” “Tonight” and “Auschwitz Orchestra” as an encore, mentioning that these songs would be included in his new album. As I saw the song list from the new album, “Auschwitz Orchestra” caught my eyes naturally because it has distinctive title and content. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the best song in this album. Further, it doesn’t mean that Lee Janghyuk’s album is necessarily brilliant.
The sentiment representing Vol. 2 can be summarized as “Nobody called my name / nobody knew me” (”Cho”), or, to be snobbish, an apocalyptic imagination replaced by inner landscape. The world in his language and music is broken, or is being broken, or on the verge of breakdown. Thus he tells us not to look back as the landscape is going to disappear anyway (”Imbeciles”). The scope of the world is narrow. Just as large as the circle drawn with two arms stretched from the mind’s center. But this is his world. He controls everything in there. Through this he appeals to the outside of his world. It is amazing this appeal is felt through the record. But that’s it for this record. Vol. 2 cannot reach the level which Vol. 1 did.
Of course, Lee Janghyuk is not the only musician whose vision and imagination are bleak. But I am skeptical of how well they are expressed in the record. In other words, he probably might think that he aimed to write poems with the ink called despair, but I’m not sure he achieved that goal. It does not hit upon me like that when music works effectively: from “Imbeciles” where simple but intense repetitions create a dreamlike atmosphere, through “Tonight” which staggers drenched with nihilistic romanticism to “Icy river” which is chill as the title. But where the charm is gone, sparse language collides with arpegio. His voice cannot help.
In this sense, lyrics and sound of “Auschwitz Orchestra,” adopting chamber pop’s grammar and folk song’s melody, is not digestible. It sounds rather “not being well refined” than “being desperate.” thus it sounds alien and unsatisfactory. Can it be regarded only as a matter of taste? “Cho” (song about Cho Sung-hui) equally speaking up against the outside doesn’t sound awkward because he intentionally erase the link to the outer world. Regardless of whether this methodology is effective or not, Lee Janghyuk’s imagination works well in “Cho.” Not in “Auschwitz Orchestra.” The impression is that his language reveals nothing other than the ‘perspective from the audience.’ The rift between language and music widens in a different way from the distance between cruel substance and lyrical melody which might have been intended.
Lee Janghyuk’s new album draws a lot of positive attention from media and the Internet, which proves his respectable muscianship. None the less, this album and the reaction to it seem too much “ethical.” As if his pain and its expression might redempt our burden. It might be related to today’s situation in which painful and desperate gesture turned from ‘emotional reaction’ to ‘ethical action.’ Of course. In a hopeless world, painful and desperate move might be right ethically. But right ethics does not necessarily make music right.
The review title is from Adorno’s Minima Moralia. I continue to get free ride on making title.
* Originally written in Korean on January 8, 2009 and published at [weiv].
* Tracklist
1. Imbeciles (백치들)
2. That day (그날)
3. Tonight (오늘밤은)
4. Spring (봄)
5. Auschwitz Orchestra (아우슈비츠 오케스트라)
6. Butterfly (나비)
7. Youth (청춘)
8. Gilnyangi Waltz (길냥이 왈츠)
9. Lie (거짓말)
10. Icy river (얼음강)
11. Cho (조)
* Related sites
Lee Janghyuk’s homepage
www.leejanghyuk.com
RubySalon’s official homepage
www.rubysalon.com
Rating:
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