Zandari 2018 Post-rock band Dabda create 'pastel psychedelic' soundscape
Kim Ji-ae of post-rock band Dabda performs with her band at KT&G Sangsangmadang for Zandari Festa 2018. / Courtesy of Anastasia Traynin
This is the third article in a series on Zandari Festa 2018, held Oct. 4 to 7.
By Anastasia Traynin
The first full day of
got plenty of typhoon rain. Luckily, the rain cleared up by 5 p.m. Saturday, just in time for a long-anticipated set by
that call their sound “pastel psychedelic,” at KT&G Sangsangmadang, the butterfly-wing-shaped building in the heart of the Hongdae nightlife area near Hongik University in Seoul.
After last year's
this past spring Dabda released their second single and accompanying Mirrorball music video for the daydreamy
featuring the Seoul cityscape among droney guitars and soft vocals.
Their Oct. 6 Zandari showcase attracted a large and diverse audience, showing that they certainly have a growing following for a genre that is not so well-represented in the Korean underground scene. Sitting down with the band members after their set, I learned that we are lucky to catch them here at their second Zandari, as they will finish out their shows in 2018 and go into the recording studio to lay down their first full album next year.
With the name echoing the “five stages of coping with dying” concept from
Dabda vocalist-guitarist Kim Ji-ae and drummer Lee Seung-hyun started the band while in university in Daejeon. They encountered the post-rock community that played at the now-defunct Hongdae venue Salon Badabie, picking up influences from a style with which they hadn't been familiar. Kim in particular was into Britpop and acoustic and liked the newfound melodies of post-rock. After rotating members, they added lead guitarist Joseph Lee and bassist Park Hui-soo, who was a Badabie sound engineer, and put out their first release, the five-song
in 2016.
“At first, with the whole band we were making music that was kind of dark and depressing,” drummer Lee said. “As some members left and new people came, from that dark atmosphere we thought 'let's make some brighter sounds.'”
Guitarist Lee honed his riffs from outside the rock soundscape.
“I was in an environment where it was easier for me to listen to classical music or something that doesn't really have much vocals,” guitarist Joseph Lee said. “That got me into instrumental music and the stuff I am doing right now.”
Kim is also the primary songwriter, adding the lyrics in after each member's musical part. This group is her first musical project.
“I was really nervous when we first started Dabda and it hasn't totally gone away, but now it's just about having fun,” she said.
The band sees Zandari Festa as the final music showcase hurrah of the year, and rather than a traditional festival, it is a comfortable way for performers and audiences to go to the regular Hongdae music venues and see each act one by one. Through meeting international promoters, they are laying the groundwork for expanding outside of Korea.
“After releasing our first full-length album, we will promote it and see if we can grow a bigger fan base and get a chance to play overseas,” drummer Lee said. “Even if it's just a small-scale club tour, we definitely want do that in the future.”
For now, Dabda are focusing on making the best music they can and will be playing shows sporadically next year to build momentum for what is sure to be a beautiful first album.
They are opening for Taiwanese post-rock band
.