The explosion of South Korean pop known as K-pop rocked the planet a few years ago. This phenomenon combining trendy Western pop music with energetic indigenous roots still has a lot to offer. This is evidenced by the fact that new groups are constantly emerging that push the boundaries of the genre forward and manage to surprise. One of them is NuMori with one of the best female singers of this era named Jeon Young-Rang. This unbridled fusion brings meaning back to traditional Korean music without taking away its true essence. Extreme sensitivity, surprising sound effects and emotions that are not watered down give NuMori a vitality that some European acts may envy.
NuMori hasn't gotten the attention it deserves yet. That's why the "black horse" label fits them quite well. Their second album, Door To Fantasy, was released in 2018 and presented a coherent "portrait" of a band that knows what it wants and how to say it. NuMori's balladic songs tell a love story full of hope and pain. The adrenaline level often smolders like the hot esophagus of a volcano. The guitar solos are reminiscent of top American bluesmen in their intensity, while the flute playing would perhaps be praised by Ian Anderson himself. NuMori's pop mantras meet post rock, neo-folk, chanson, folk, soul and jazz rhythms very naturally. Occasionally, a fleeting quotation like the climactic moment of Deep Purple's Child in Time pops up unwittingly. The story of a lover whose love slowly grows cold is touching because it sounds sublime, despite the unexpected sound design that counts on electric guitar, folk percussion and piano!
Read moreNuMori is not looking for anything calculated or interchangeable. This is a band that throws its creativity with all the hope, while also thinking deeply about it. What is born is a special magic that either completely engulfs or repels you. There is no in-between!
We have discovered this Korean band at the Seoul Music Week festival. In an unenviable slot just around midday, under the direct sunlight on a concrete square in the centre of the South Korean capital, they played a concert that lifted even the otherwise unemotional Korean audience off the ground. She captivated especially with her perfect balancing act between traditional tones and contemporary K-pop melodies. And that's just an originally entertaining mix.