“San Francisco” by ADOY, Friday, July 15, 2022
Formed when the lead singer of Korean rock band Eastern Sidekick's lead singer Oh Ju Hwan (오주환) started working with Zee (지) of From the Airport to produce a synth-based solo project, ADOY the project quickly turned into band with drummer Zozo (조조 or Cho Sang Yeon/ 조상연) and Ju Hwan's high school friend Jang Da Young (장다영) joining the band. In an interview with Arirang (see below), Ju Hwan explains that the band got the name for the band by reversing the letters of his cat Yoda's name, hence ADOY is simply Yoda backwards. He goes on to explain that Yoda played a pivotal role in determining the band's sound.
ALL THE COLORS LOOK BACK. ADOY formed in 2016 and their debut EP Catnip was released in 2017. The album's name relates to the role that Yoda played in helping the band determine their sound. When the band wrote their first songs, they determined which songs would go on the album by how Ju Hwan's cat Yoda responded to those songs. If Yoda liked the songs, they put them on Catnip. The band determined that the songs that Yoda didn't like would be scrapped. The result is a six-track EP of ebullient synth-pop. From the chill, melancholy guitars on "Grace," the radio-ready anthem "Don't Stop," the psychedelic guitar on "Laika," and finally to today's song, the early-'90s sax solo "San Francisco," cats won't be the only creatures addicted to Catnip. A self-proclaimed "commercial indie" band, ADOY set their sights both on the Korean Indie market and playing festivals abroad. While the band will probably never be the next BTS, they are embodying a popular sound worldwide--the new retro or newtro as it's called in South Korea. While K-pop groups may incorporate this newtro sound, the aesthetic is often better carried out in bands and graphic design. Bands like ADOY certainly have a sound that fits in with international acts.
LADY FLOWERS ON MY HILL. I would say that ADOY's English lyrics are generally stronger than Zee's other band, From the Airport. All four members of ADOY are credited songwriters on their songs, and it seems that the input of four members yields stronger songwriting. However, the lyrics to today's song, "San Francisco," feel a bit like purple prose. The lyrics feel like an impression of the city and the music feels like a rerun of a '90s sitcom set in San Francisco. Maybe Full House? And this pushes me into a Carly Rae Jepsen tangent, a songwriter who covered the Full House theme song and who also writes songs based on emotions rather than facts. But today's song references flowers and "prima donnas and dancers" whom "little brother resemble[s]." I imagine a beautiful park filled with flowers--California lilacs, sea lavender, Douglas iris, malva rosa--and drag queens. And as the day is done, and the sun sets, the sexy saxophone ushers you back to your hotel room. Sort of like Laura Linney's Mary Ann Singleton in Tales of the City we are just tourists here for a brief moment before we go back to our conservative hometowns and talk about that one liberating experience we had in San Francisco. The city was fun, but who can afford the rent?
Live performance in Gangnam:
Studio recording:Interview (I'm LIVE X Digging) Arirang TV:
Comments
Post a Comment