“Timelines” by From the Airport, Monday, April 25, 2022

From the Airport was a duo that formed in 2012 when guitarist Zee met DJ/Keyboardist Milo and the two started jamming together. Prior to the inception of From the Airport, Zee worked playing music for film scores and played guitar in progressive rock bands, and Milo worked in the studio with K-pop acts such as MC Sniper. Milo and Zee together create a dreamy sort of pop-rock that isn't particularly cool, but full of wonder and excitement. It's almost as if the band's concept is waiting for the adventure that comes when traveling to the airport to fly away to an interesting place.

DREAMING STILL NEXT TO ME.  Before releasing their debut album in 2015, You Could Imagine, they released singles and two EPs. The South Korean electronic indie pop group's first single "Colors" gained some notice by foreign publications, including The Guardian in the UK. Today's song is the band's third single. Their second single "Everyone's All Right" and its b-side "Raining" shifted the group's sound from purely optimistic songs to flirting with emo. Today's song, "Timelines," first released in 2013, was the band's third single and hints at a darker story about a friend who the singer couldn't save. "Timelines" and "Raining" appear on the band's first EP Chemical Love, released in 2014. The album cover art evokes a My-Chemical-Romance vibe, and the darker tracks, such as "Black Skies" and the title track give From the Airport a gothic vibe. But the next year when they released You Could Imagine, which included new songs and previously released singles, the album's tone balances between the dark and light. One of the band's darkest songs, "Flying Walls" is offset by songs like "Hit My Cash," a light-hearted song about surviving the week until Friday. 

WE'RE TICKING AWAY, CAN'T HOLD  ON THE TIME. How do you follow up a song like "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us"? I'm not sure that Sparks is an influence on From the Airport, but it seems that Zee is a fan of Dream Theater. I'd imagine that Chromeo is also an influence, and I can't help but think of Flight of the  Conchords with some of their ultra-serious songs like "Inner City Pressure." I could be wrong, though, it seems that From the Airport is taking their music seriously, despite what seems a little whimsical. It should be of note that in the early '10s, both in Korea and internationally Rock music was probably at its nadir. Rock was seen as commercially unfeasible, yet From the Airport played into the ambiguity of whether is it rock or is it pop. The band chose to perform most of their songs in English which was both brave and a limitation. A song like "Timelines" is trying to convey a post-modern message about two friends cursed on different planes of existence. Something happened changing the timeline, but the singer is longing to follow a different timeline. The lyrics are feeble in comparison to the concept the song conveys, but the feeble lyrics almost work. But just as the minor key of the verse is lifted up into a glorious, uplifting chorus, let's not focus on the ineloquent. Let's focus on making the best of what we can in the timeline we have now.


Performance Video:
Live Performance on MBC:

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