'My music represents my nature, identity'

eAeon

By Rachel Lee

Singer-song writer eAeon’s music is deep. Each of his song is an emotional journey with melancholic melodies, and expresses his artistic spirit pursuing real music in his work.

The 37-year-old artist, whose Korean name is Lee Yong-hyun, is also the vocalist and leader of Korean indie duo MOT, which debuted in 2004. Five years after they released their second album in 2007, eAeon debuted as a solo singer. His first studio album “Guilt-Free” won critical acclaim for the electronic sound which blends synthesizer, guitar and piano.

But now he is back with sweet acoustic sound. His new EP “REALIZE,” released last month, embodies his own charisma with his mellow and calm voice.

“I wanted to show my identity and soul again in my new EP,” said the singer on Jan.14 in an interview held at a café in Munbae-song, Seoul. “This is completely different from what I did on my first album but I believe my nature and identity still stay the same in these two extremes. I hope people can see this essence of my music.”

Asked how he came up with title “REALIZE,” the artist explained the two different meanings that the word has.

“The word ‘realize’ means ‘become aware’ in general, but also it can mean ‘make something real.’ So what I am trying to say here is that I have used ‘real’ instruments to make my music ‘real’ unlike my previous electronic sounds,” said eAeon.

“Electronic sounds are made of digital signals 0 and 1 whereas acoustic music uses instruments that produce sound through entirely acoustic means. People tend to think acoustic sound is just simple and calm but at the same time, it can be very detailed and systematic in some ways,” he added.

The EP consists of six tracks; new song “My Little Piggy” and five remakes of his old songs and some world-famous songs like “Harder Better Faster Stronger” by French electronic duo Daft Punk.

eAeon studied electric wave engineering at Yonsei University to become a computer programmer. But later he changed his career path and went on to study music technology at Korea National University of Arts as he believed there would be “thousands of talented programmers just like me, but you can express your individuality in music and do whatever you want with it.” The artist also expressed his wish to “continue my music career for at least 10 years from now on.”

eAeon plans to release MOT’s third studio album sometime this year with other member Z. EE, who currently works for a local game development company.