Our newest Indie Pick is all about the wonderful Kang Asol. If you need music to feed your heart a little bit of indie folk, I really recommend this artist. She writes and composes most of her music herself, so every song comes straight from the heart.
Debut
Kang Asol is a singer-songwriter who debuted in April 2012 with her album ‘The Short Memory You Left’.
Her title track ‘To You’ is a timeless classic. It’s a song that could have come out today as it still feels fresh and filled with life.
Sadly that album isn’t on Spotify, which is honestly a pain. I did find it on YouTube Music though, which makes life easier. Fun fact about this album though is that it was recorded in a one-take way. It was just Kang Asol and her guitar or piano which makes it one of those pure folk albums with a lot of heart.
An Honest Heart
One year later she came out with her second album ‘An Honest Heart’. The title track of this one is a real tearjerker. The song starts with a note she got from her mother.
Her track ‘Remained People’, based on a conversation between two elderly people on a subway has a bit more of a jazzy vibe to it. There are also some beautiful strings in the instrumentation.
After that stunning album, she released a couple of singles together with Im Bora, a pianist.
She landed two OSTs for ‘Youth Generation’, one for each season.
The Day of Love
After a couple of singles here and there, she finally released her new album ‘The Day of Love’ in 2018.
The title track ‘Beautiful we were’ is amazing!! The music video fits right into our list of LGBTQ+ Representation in K-pop. This song has my heart.
In 2021 Kang was featured on a track ‘Hand in Hand’ by Summer of Thoughts. It is so, so soft and lovely. The harmonies are everything! She also had a feature on Babylon’s latest album ‘HARDY‘.
Her last release was the single ‘I’m in love’ which I’d featured in my Weekly K-Indie Report.
If you want to enjoy a mini tour through her discography, please listen to this performance. It’s also translated, which helps with the appreciation of her lyrical skills.
You can find her Instagram here and her Spotify profile here.
