Bumjin - Vol. 1: Annual Rings

Components] 

- Photobook / 145x205mm / 56p

- CD-R

- Coaster / 100x100mm / 1ea

- Bookmark / 40x90mm / 1ea
- Photocard / 55x85mm / 1 out of 4 Random

[Album Introduction]

Bumjin's 1st full-length album "Annual Rings"

 

'Annual Rings,' Bumjin's first full-length album, is a new album released about 6 months after the single 'Such a Day,' which was released last April. You can feel the highly complete sound by fully capturing Bumjin's unique sensibility, which has been upgraded even more than before.

This album is composed of songs that beautifully depict various moments encountered in life, thinking that various curves and traces are engraved in our lives like the annual rings of a tree,

Sometimes it is bumpy and broken, but with the idea that all those lines come together to create a story about our lives, we captured the common stories of life around us with uncommon music.

Because our lives are more beautiful because they are not perfect, Bumjin's album is expected to soothe the hearts of many people.

 

A voice of deep trust - Bumjin [Annual Rings]

 

At some point, I get breathless from the speed of the world. Just stopping for a moment to look around is fraught with anxiety that I'll be kicked out of the ranks of people walking somewhere without rest. The warmth of someone pulling my hand at times like that is appreciated and warm, but the scenery that brushes past on both sides as I'm being dragged along so mindlessly is neither yours nor mine. Days that belong to no one slip through my fingers every day.

 

As the world flows that way, so does the time of music follow it. The speed of music and the speed at which people consume it have become so fast that your eyes widen. Among the songs that are betting on winning within 2 minutes or laying traps aimed at short forms in various places, there are still songs that take one step at a time, walking my own path at my own pace. The place where Bumjin's music is located is somewhere in the middle. It's definitely not music with a speed that suits the current era, but the backbone of the music I can do and want to do was clearer than anything else. Thanks to that, the song 'Greeting,' released in 2021, climbed the music charts at the end of last year, two years after its release. 'Greeting' was a very Bumjin-like and Bumjin-esque song that would not have been surprising to anyone who had been watching him since his debut in 2019. Those who leaned on the song, which expressed comfort to the back of a father taking early retirement with his unique calmness, did not bother to distinguish between age and gender.

 

He could have changed enough, but even after that, his steps did not change much from before. The album [Annual Rings] is Bumjin's first full-length album, which he said he was already preparing at the time of the 'Greeting' reverse run. Just by listening to the first song 'Scenery,' which is the intro to the album, you can immediately realize how upright he has been and how silently he has walked towards this album. The song, which consists only of acoustic guitar, piano, and Bumjin's voice, faithfully sings of a love that will bloom forever with steadfastness, as if it were natural in the place where it bloomed.

 

This solid keynote applies to all 11 songs on the album. The album, which gradually raises the tempo from the opening to the pre-released song 'I Am Beautiful Like a Falling Petal,' which is the 6th track, puts a lot of effort into delicately building up heavy emotions from the next song 'To You' to the last song 'Even If All the Light in the World Is Lost.' It took an hour just to record the first verse of 'A Song Just for You,' which is led by a rich string section, 'A song to tell you who have lost your way,' so I want to re-measure the boundaries left by Bumjin's emotions and stories in each song. The title song 'Annual Rings,' which is responsible for the album's signboard, is also the same. The song, which unfolds as if slowly tracing the annual rings engraved in life, carefully examines the laughter, tears, people, and memories that not only Bumjin but also everyone who lives their lives fiercely every day remembers. It is the unique temperature of Bumjin's music that is easy to steal your heart before you know it.

 

It is also worth paying attention to the names of those who increase the density of the album [Annual Rings]. In addition to the names of veteran musicians such as Jeon Jin-hee, who was in charge of the string arrangement for the song 'Annual Rings,' Cho Jung-chi, who participated in the arrangement and acoustic/electric guitar performance of 'Such a Day,' and Soulman, who was in charge of the chorus in 'Annual Rings' and 'I Am Beautiful Like a Falling Petal,' various musicians who have silently watched Bumjin's growth faithfully fulfill their roles. On top of that, Bumjin's name, which is densely written in every corner of the credits, makes us guess the size of the heart of a musician who has put his heart and soul into preparing his first full-length album. I suddenly thought of the word 'trust' as I listened to Bumjin's voice, which widely unfolds that sincerity to the public. A voice of deep trust that makes me feel confident that it will not waver anytime, anywhere. Singer-songwriter Bumjin is now on the real starting line with [Annual Rings].

Kim Yun-ha / Pop Music Critic