February 3, 2012 • Sony Music
Dear anonymous person who recommended me this album: I may not know who you are, but apparently you know me all too well—this is pretty damn amazing. 잠비나이 (or Jambinai) is probably the only Korean band I've ever heard up to this point and apparently I'm missing out on a lot, if it's all as interesting as 차연 (or Differance).
차연 combines heavy post-rock with traditional Korean music, resulting in a pretty crazy fusion the likes of which sometimes remind me of John Zorn-style stuff. You've got your standard guitars, bass, and drums, but there's also some folky-sounding singing and instruments whose names I don't even know (the video for "소멸의 시간" displays one or two though). They have a sort of Mogwai-plus-Godspeed-plus-Boris thing going, if I must compare to other bands, but the added folky elements make it so unique that it's hard to say. (Maybe they sound more like Japanese post-rock such as Mono, but I haven't listened to Mono in ages.)
The songwriting is also pretty diverse—some tracks are very heavy, edging into metal and punk territory, while others are more ambient and traditional post-rock. Most tracks focus on just a couple different riffs and play up a wall of sound with layers of stringed instruments and percussion, and it seems like no matter which style they tackle they do it well. The more ambient and light-post-rock tracks (such as the gorgeous tracks "감긴 눈 위로 비추는 불빛" and "Connection") are standout favorites for me; they have a very beautiful longing mood to them. It's also neat to hear them launch straight from that into something heavy like "구원의 손길"'s aggressive opening.
Simply put, this was exactly the kind of thing that post-rock needs to get out of the slump it's been in for the past decade. And 잠비나이 is doing it exactly right by keeping things really interesting, really unique, and really fresh. Totally worth your time.
I like this song and the video is pretty cool too!
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