Leenalchi Announce New Album Sugungga

Aug 14

Written By V2 Records Benelux

out October 2nd via Luaka Bop

Release Lead Single, “Crying Softshell Turtle”

Supporting Geese at Forest Hills in New York on October 2

North American & European Tour This Fall

“Leenalchi has changed the way I think about music and Korea.

I have never heard anything quite like this.” — Brian Eno

"The centuries-old Korean tradition of pansori — epic stories in now-archaic Korean, performed by a singer and a drummer — gets a newer, funkier beat in the music of Leenalchi…Between high and low riffs from two basses — Jang plays one of them — and hovering synthesizer tones, three enthusiastic singers share rhythmic, venerable poetry." – The New York Times

Leenalchi (EEE-nal-chi) — the seven-piece Seoul-based band led by composer Jang Young Gyu — announce their new album, Sugungga, a revival of an 18th century Korean epic, out October 2nd via Luaka Bop, along with lead single/video, “Crying Softshell Turtle.” Leenalchi is breathing new life into pansori, one of the nation’s oldest forms of music, giving this surreal legend an equally psychedelic musical makeover. Their line-up, as singular as their sound, features two bassists, drums, keys, no guitar, and four pansori singers. The two bassists — Jang and his artistic collaborator Ejae — lay down bass riffs so fat and funky, George Clinton would shed a tear of joy. Over steady infectious rhythms and a synthesizer, traditional pansori vocalists sing in the genre’s distinctive, ethereal, technically precise, guttural warble.

Jang approaches the music of Leenalchi with a collaborative spirit. In addition to Ejae, he works with drummer Oh Hyung Suk to set the foundation for a song, then, master pansori singers Park Soo Bum, Ahn Yi Ho, Ra Seo Jin, and Choi Su In draw from the repertoire of pansori songs to discover the most distinctive and fitting sounds.

Today’s single, “Crying Softshell Turtle,” tells the story of an enterprising turtle on a quest to cure the dragon king by bringing him a sacrificial rabbit, whose liver is the greatest medicine. Assuming the role of the turtle, they sing “I beg you to open his belly, and I pray to god there is a liver in there. But if there isn’t a liver, you can execute my whole family and tear me to pieces, and I won’t have any regrets. I beseech you, open his belly.”

Watch “Crying Softshell Turtle” Video (preview)

Jang, a major presence in South Korea’s indie music scene, has been working with pansori since 2007. An NPR Tiny Desk concert of one of his former bands, SsingSsing, racked up 9.9 million views on YouTube and was praised by Tiny Desk founder Bob Boilen as "one of my most memorable Tiny Desk Concerts of all time." Told in an ancient form of the language, even most Korean speakers have a hard time understanding what’s happening in these songs. But like all great music, when pansori is performed correctly, meaning transcends the confines of language, time, space. “Up until very recently, most Koreans thought of pansori as old fashioned and stale; I want to see if it can be appreciated and enjoyed in the same way as pop music,” says Mr. Jang. “Will Koreans sing along to pansori?”

Jang is also known for his work as a prestigious film composer, having scored soundtracks for some of South Korea’s most celebrated films like Train to Busan, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Wailing, and more. These aforementioned films will receive special screenings accompanied by Q&As with Jang, as part of the band’s tour.

Earlier this month, Leenalchi wrapped up first-ever North American tour, making stops in Canada and the West coast, including Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco where they supported Japanese Breakfast, and played a free show at The Getty in Los Angeles presented by KCRW. In October, they will embark on a fall North American tour which begins with opening for Geese at Forest Hills in New York on the day Sugungga is released, and then an appearance at Sylvan Esso’s Good Moon Festival in Durham, alongside shows in Washington, DC (at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art) Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburg, Minneapolis, and more. Tickets are now available here.