After playing at the Coachella music festival last weekend, Jambinai released two songs off their upcoming album ONDA titled “Small Consolation” and “ONDA.” The album is set to come out June 6th of this year. Additionally, the group will be having a few live performances in London, Brighton, Brussels, and Monts among other European cities.
“ONDA” is very similar in structure and format when compared to “Small Consolation.” It begins with a repetitive and fast beat with quick plucking and constant percussive eighth note hits. Slowly, the song is layered with new sounds. After the relationship between the percussion and string instruments are established, beautiful vocals call out. Over several minutes, the song builds momentum and intensity until the song abruptly adds in a suspended guitar rhythm, evocative of classic rock. The guitar distortion and the vocals fit together perfectly and the song ends in perfect harmony. Overall, the “ONDA” becomes more and more layered in complexity and takes an incredibly modern take on rock. The band spokesman Lee Il-Woo explained the song perfectly when he stated, “Onda means ‘come’ in Korean. The title track has the lyric, ‘At the end of your darkness, pain will turn into the shining stars and it’s going to come to you.’ I want to cheer people up when they hear that track.”
Listen to the song here:
The rock group also released a fantastic and dynamic live performance video of “Small Consolation.” The powerful video shows the band members passionately playing and features many non traditional instruments to rock music including a zither and a haegeum. Watch the video below:
Jambinai first formed in Seoul, South Korea in 2009. The instrumental group has won several accolades including Best Crossover album at the Korean music awards. Their most popular songs include “Time of Extinction,” “Sawtooth,” and “Glow Upon Closed Eyes.” The band received the most recognition after releasing their debut album Différance. Along with playing Coachella, the band recently put on a stunning performance at the Winter Olympics back in 2018.
Jambinai brilliantly takes traditional Korean folk music and fuses it with rock to create refreshingly beautiful tracks unlike anything other bands are releasing. So far, this is reflected amazingly in ONDA and it’ll be exciting to hear the remaining songs off the album.
Here is the track list for ONDA below:
1. Sawtooth
2. Square Wave
3. 사상의 지평선 (Event Horizon)
4. 검은 빛은 붉은 빛으로 (Sun.Tears.Red)
5. 나무의 대화 (In the Woods)
6. 작은 위로가 있는 곳에 (Small Consolation)
7. 그대가 지내온 아픔들이 빛나는 축복의 별이 되어 (ONDA Prelude)
8. 온다(ONDA)
Here are Jambinai’s tour dates:
4/17 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl
4/20 – Indio, CA – Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
5/11 – Brighton, UK – The Great Escape
5/31 – Hilvarenbeek, NL – Best Kept Secret Festival
6/5 – Brussels, BE – AB Club
6/6 – London, UK – The Garage
6/7 – Porto, PT – NOS Primavera Sound Festival
7/13 – Monts, FR – Festival Terres du Son
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