Singer-songwriter and guitarist Son Hyeeun released her full-length album ‘Mosaic’ in March and has quietly and softly landed a spot on my favorite folk albums of the year.
As pop critic Jeong Min-jae writes in the album introduction, this album is “like countless sparkles on a peaceful lake.” ‘Mosaic’ pieces together different stories about her youth.
We start the album with the track ‘Roots’ and a beautiful guitar opening. She wrote, composed, arranged and performs the guitar on this track. It’s a full Son Hyeeun production which creates a very intimate, honest song.
‘Changing Seasons’ is the first of three title tracks and boasts a fuller production with several guitars, a banjo, strings, piano and an accordion. It’s a beautiful track, accompanied by her lovely vocals and it feels hopeful about the new things that will come on her path. “Yesterday’s worries fall away like spring rain.” It’s beautiful and poetic.
The following title track is ‘Flaw’. This was pre-released in February. It’s a stunning blend of piano and guitar and tells the soft story of filling out each other’s flaws in a relationship.
‘Mosaic’, after which the album was named, feels a bit like a dream. It’s warm and fuzzy round the edges and as more instruments join the instrumentation it leaves you with a gentle kind of quiet.
We’re going through a break-up with ‘How Have You Been?’ It’s a jazzy track that recalls a lot of unresolved feelings. I adore her vocals here and the layering is incredibly well done.
In ‘Rain Shower’ we’re seeking happiness both in ourselves and in someone who could be our partner. ‘Rain Shower’ has a very light instrumentation, the piano plays very lightly and the guitar is strumming the same pattern.
‘Under the Same Moon’ is also a break-up song where instead of anger, we hear a lot of loneliness and sadness. I really enjoy her storytelling. The instrumentation focuses more on the guitar with some light synths that fill out the sound.
After that comes the track ‘No Reason’. Here she’s struggling with herself as she doesn’t quite know what she wants and projects it on her partner. It’s an introspective track that has a nice mix of piano and synths and a light touch of drums.
The closing track ‘Bitter Words’ asks her partner to love her so she can love them with all her might. The instrumentation is a mix of guitar, piano and even an organ.
‘Mosaic’ by Son Heeyun is a fantastic album that tells stories, not just with the words, but with the music as well. As expertly as Son strums the guitar, she does the same to your heart strings.
Listen to it here on Spotify.
This feature was originally published in our yearly magazine.
