We’re back with the latest Korean Indie chart. Let’s take a closer look at chart of the top hits from the K-indie world from the month of September.
This time the newcomers are HANRORO, ARO and Summer of Thoughts. Wave to earth continues to snag the top spot. It’s great to see artists like Luli Lee and Line and Circle in the top 10 as well. We’ve actually written a reiew for the ‘Night and Day’ release in our magazine last year.
Let’s take a closer look at the newcomers!
HANRORO – Take-off
This is HANRORO’s first EP and we love to see it! The EP contains six singles and has two title tracks. Every single is seen as a paper airplane with its own story.
The mini starts off with the track ‘Take-off’ and we’re going full rock for this one. The guitars go absolutely wild and I might be a little bit in love.
‘Seaweed’ has some incredible vocals. The guitars are, again, such a fantastic addition.
‘I’m Happy’ is the first title track. This is such a beautiful rock ballad. HANRORO brings her vocals in such an emotive way, I was overcome with emotion myself.
‘Goldfish’ is the second title track. It feels claustrophobic and freeing at the same time. It’s a great track and has a fantastic pace.
‘Even if you leave’ was released as a pre-release a couple of months ago. This is still just as great as when it first came out.
The closing track is ‘Landing in Love’ and what a fabulous track to end with. It feels very cathartic.
ARO – Remain
This is ARO’s second EP. ‘Remain‘ tells the entire beginning and end of one relationship. It starts with the falling in love and eventually the love drying up and two people parting ways.
‘Weather and You‘ is a soft ballad with ARO’s great vocals and a warm ambience due to the acoustic guitar.
The next track is the first of two title tracks. ‘Love Can’ is a darling indie pop single. This is positive and hopeful and romantic. It instantly brought a smile to my face.
‘Clouds’ brings us back down to earth. This is a beautiful ballad that honestly deserves a live crowd so we can all cry together.
The second title track is ‘Long Time’. This is such a touching and earnest track. ARO’s vocals really lend themselves to wonderful storytelling.
‘Remain’ is the closing track and immediately starts us off with a little flute intro. The flute is played by Park Ki-hoon. It’s kind of amazing how it brings a certain tenderness and nostalgia to the track. How lovely!
Summer of Thoughts – Hands
This album was actually released in 2022. I even shared it in our monthly Korean Indie DisKovery here.
‘Hands’ is a wonderful album with insane featured artists. Each and every single track is a gem and I still have this album saved in my favorites. It’s still as relevant as when it first came out.
You can find it on Spotify here.
That was it for this September K-Indie Chart. See you next month!
