The new indie duo Moonsomoon released their debut album ‘Red Eyes’ in October. I was so intrigued that I simply had to reach out to one member of the duo, Cacophony. She has established herself as an incredible soloist so I was curious to see how the collab with Gunwoo came to be.
Gunwoo is a very talented guitarist and had worked with Cacophony on her solo works. He also performed with her when she had live stages. “One day, Gunwoo let me hear a guitar line he had heard in his dream. I was so incredibly moved by it, that we decided to make an album together.”
For this collab album it was quite a different working experience. “When I work as Cacophony, I usually give the whole picture to Gunwoo who tries to capture the instrumentals exactly as I want. For Moonsomoon, we had to work together on ‘Red Eyes’. There was a lot more communication involved. It was also the first time that I recorded most sounds in the studio as opposed to working with samples.” According to Cacophony, it really felt like they were a team.
Rumours of Interpretation
The storyline of ‘Red Eyes’ is all about rumours. “Of course the story is very open to interpretation. I don’t want to give the full plot away, because I don’t want to intrude on the opportunity of interpretation. It’s up to the listener to find their own stories within the tale. It might mean something different today and something else entirely tomorrow.”
‘Red Eyes’ came to Cacophony all of a sudden. She’s not sure how the full narrative came to her, but the death of famous people affected her a lot. In the end Cacophony hopes that the listener finds their own definition, she just wanted to tell a story.
There is an online game where you can discover more about the plot. If you follow this link, it’ll take you there. For people who can’t read Korean, try to use the photo function on Google Translate.
“One of my friends is very good at coding, so I asked him to help us. I made a scenario and drew the full picture and my friend implemented it. We couldn’t have done it without him, I’m so grateful to him.”
Little by Little
One of the songs on ‘Red Eyes’ is ‘Little by Little’. There’s a specific instrument introduced that Cacophony hadn’t used before. The udu is a clay water jug with an additional hole and was used by the women of the Igbo tribe from Nigeria.
You can hear the udu at 3:08 in ‘Little by Little’. “I fell in love with the sound of this instrument because it resembles the sound of the sea. It was suitable for expressing the dream in a world where boundaries were broken down. These days it’s my favorite song, though it changes every day.”
The album ‘Red Eyes’ closes with the last song ‘OM’. “I wanted to express that truth was conveyed through people’s mouths, becoming complicated and distant from the truth as more and more people speak. ‘OM’ is said to be the original sound. I wanted to tell the original truth in this lush rumour and to express that the complex sounds eventually converge into one sound.”
Growth from ‘Harmony’
‘Harmony’ was Cacophony’s debut album and immediately put her firmly on my radar. It’s been very interesting to follow her progress as she’s getting more and more listeners who are looking for an authentic, honest listening experience.
“I think I’ve changed a lot. Before, I only focused on expressing my emotions. Now however, I worry a lot more about the arrangement, sound and the image. To be honest, I was quite afraid when I released this album, because it’s so different from my solo work. I’m so happy that people are enjoying it.”
There are more Cacophony and Moonsomoon records in the making. So hop on over to their socials to follow them so you don’t miss out.
If you want to listen to the full album ‘Red Eyes’ by Moonsomoon on Spotify, you can click here.
Here’s the Instagram link for Cacophony, Gunwoo and the one for Moonsomoon.
