photo credit by Magic Strawberry Sound

EP Review: Samuel Seo – D I A L

Samuel Seo has blessed today with his new release ‘D I A L’ and honestly what a day it has been! There were so many great releases, but don’t let this one slip through your fingers because Samuel Seo has yet to disappoint me. Let’s dive in shall we?

D I A L

The first track is the track the mini-album was named after; ‘D I A L’. It starts off with all the little sounds a phone can make, but heavily distorted. It takes a while before the melody comes in. However, this is only an intro, the song clocks in at just over a minute. The track, arranged by archeformw has a rather interesting soundscape. Though I wouldn’t call it easy listening. 

Next up is ‘DAMN THINGS’ featuring Lee Tae Hun. This has more groove to it and reminds me more of Seo’s style. There’s a dope bass in the background and combined with his singing it’s *chef’s kiss*. ‘DAMN THINGS’ is basically a hate song to his cell phone and honestly it’s kind of iconic. 

‘DYE’ featuring DAMYE starts of with a very high tempo that feels quite suffocating. Before completely changing it up. DAMYE going off was really great and I really need to do a deep-dive into his discography. What a great combination of their voices. There’s so much going on in the background, I feel like I could listen to it twenty times and still discover new things. 

Yerin Baek is the feature on the title track ‘Gae Na Ri’.

Samuel Seo and Yerin Baek wrote and composed the track together and it’s brilliant. The sound samples they used in ‘Gae Na Ri’ are really dope! Yerin’s vocals are as always beautiful and their harmonization is really, really lovely.  

‘Red’ is the last song on this release. Heo Ahmin is the feature this time. What a laid back feel this track gives off. There’s a very spacious feel to it as well. Honestly, I’m vibing. The keyboard you hear in the track is Heo Ahmin. 

Overall, ‘D I A L’ is a lovely mini-album by Samuel Seo. It’s a great addition to his discography and I know I’ll be replaying this for quite a while. I don’t know why but I love listening to his music while cooking. It makes it 1000 times more fun. 

The mini-album isn’t on Spotify yet, but here’s his Artist Profile so keep an eye out. 

If you want to read our review about his previous album, check it out!

Ilse Van Den Heede
A writer with a slight coffee addiction and a tendency to find K-Indie gems in the YouTube rabbit hole.