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Zandari 2018 U.K.'s Eyre Llew to finish up 2nd Korea tour
The U.K. band Eyre Llew performs at Veloso during Zandari Festa 2018 on Oct. 7. Courtesy of Doug Vautour
By Jon Dunbar
This is the first article in a series on Zandari Festa 2018, held Oct. 4 to 7.
By Anastasia Traynin
The ambient post-rock trio
, from Nottingham, U.K., had just arrived from three consecutive performances in Taiwan on the first weekend of October, to kick off their second Korean tour with their second consecutive Zandari Festa appearance.
Through a collaboration with local promoters
, Eyre Llew and Seoul group
toured the U.K. this past spring and are now finishing their joint Korea tour, while also recording a split album set to come out by early next year.
They closed Zandari's British Night in MUV Hall on Oct. 5.
On Sunday, Oct. 7, they arrived early in the evening to catch In the Endless Zanhyang's set, the first one at Veloso on this last day of the festival. The Korean band's emotionally-charged, guitar and keyboard-laden soundscape seemed a perfect match for Eyre Llew's own atmospheric layers. The U.K. band's performance was the last of the night before Zandari's closing party.
Eyre Llew comes from two found French and Welsh words that were evocative for band members, combining to mean a brave lion, or a wandering traveler. Vocalist and guitarist Sam Heaton cites their first experience in Korea last year as their prime reason for returning to Asia.
“The reception we had last year was really phenomenal. We knew straight away we had to come back next year,” he said.
Drummer and pianist Jack Clark says they were impressed by people all over the country, including one show in Busan that led to a string of continuous gigs.
“All the fans came from show to show in support. It's just fantastic. People do come back out and they do invest emotionally in the music,” Clark said.
Though all three members had previous band experience, when starting Eyre Llew, Clark had never played piano and guitarist Jack Bennett had never played guitar, making this whole project an experiment for all involved. Furthermore, they purposely undertook a unique process of growth, through which they have taken their fans on a journey before even setting foot on stage.
The U.K. band Eyre Llew performs at Veloso during Zandari Festa 2018 on Oct. 7. / Courtesy of Doug Vautour
“I'm in a band with two drummers, who converted to fit around what we wanted to do,” Heaton said. “We all had the same interest that we wanted to make really reverby guitar and make everything sound beautiful and atmospheric. But being a new band we didn't know who we wanted to be, so released about eight singles over eight months and that was before we even decided to do a show. By that time, there was somewhat of a hype in our hometown so by the time we announced our first show through Drowned in Sound, it sold out very quickly.”
These singles culminated in Eyre Llew's full-length album
following on the heels of last year's Zandari in October. The singles have also been accompanied by diverse and powerful music videos, a collaboration with local artists that Heaton explains as works of art in their own right, incorporating a variety of dancers and scenes from nature and cities that add a visually stunning element to their music.
“We're effectively just producers. We've learned a lot from doing those videos actually. The two from our album “Atelo” were shot over five days in Norway and Gran Canaria. That was through a creative team that started off with just us and an actor.”
Heaton says the band approaches the song-making process in much the same way, with plenty of experimentation in the studio before laying down the final product.
“If someone comes up with an idea that is fully formed, that actually really stunts the creative process.”
Eyre Llew will play their final Korean shows with In The Endless Zanhyang We Are this weekend, at
and
.
Stay tuned for next year's
, bringing more Korean and international music connections to Seoul.
Anastasia Traynin is a graduate student of Korean studies at Korea University. She is a former editor of Gwangju News.