At its core lies the phosphorescent-vinyl concept album, which summons the enchantment of an ancient Korean legend: the origins of solar and lunar eclipses are not merely recounted but recomposed. Edictum and Pashang—two names that might seem incongruous at first—interweave their compositional identities into a sound tapestry of breathtaking finesse. The resonant depth of traditional gayageum and janggu rhythms contrasts with subtly deployed synthesizer layers and contemporary electronic beats: a daring venture that continuously unveils new horizons.
Particularly artful is the integration of the bilingual narration. The Korean narrator’s voice—warm, almost songlike—stands in counterpoint to the second voice in English, which advances the story with cool precision. This alternation generates a constant tension: at times one is transported to an age-old temple hall, at others to a modern audio drama studio. Here, dual-language narration functions not as a mere stylistic flourish but as a meta-commentary on the ambivalence inherent in cultural translation.
Equally compelling is Minz Cho’s gatefold illustration concept, far more than decorative accompaniment. Each of the eight graphics opens a visual gateway to a musically underscored scene: delicately drawn color clouds, in which the specters of the legend hover, float before abstracted ornaments. This conscious rupture with a purely East Asian visual vocabulary was experienced in a pop-up exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, during which the album’s music received its public premiere in a DJ performance.
The audience witnessed a cultural metamorphosis in which every sonic strand, every brushstroke, became a promise of creative collaboration.
“Bulgae” demonstrates how intercultural narratives can be reinvented beyond exoticist folklore: as an all-encompassing sonic and graphic Gesamtkunstwerk that does not conceal the fault lines between East and West but instead makes them generative. It stands as an exemplar of an era in which artistic collaboration is understood not as a mere formal shorthand but as a creative imperative. To play this album is not only to enter the soundscape of a distant land but—and this is the project’s greatest achievement—to immerse oneself in an interactive web of myths, melodies, and images that gently yet decisively challenge our own perceptual habits.
The narration in English and Korean is exclusive to Bandcamp and Vinyl!
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The album’s title deftly gestures to the sheer vastness of astronomical dimensions, while simultaneously capturing the musical breadth within, where the eight planets are imagined as the eight notes of a scale. The work draws inspiration not only from earlier compositions—most notably Gustav Holst’s The Planets—but also from the rich astronomical and cultural contexts surrounding these celestial bodies. Here, the focus transcends direct citation of melodic motifs, instead embracing an intriguing conceptual approach on a meta level, unfolding in a series of vividly contrasting soundscapes. These contrasts shape a sweeping sonic journey, one that fully embraces the album format with both arms, inviting the listener to venture into realms both strange and wondrous, feeling the immensity of the interstellar space that lies between them. Contrast, after all, is the brushstroke that enriches our world.
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We have come up with an unusual new concept for an album to express our love for Italodisco. An album that combines the themes of disco and anime fighter games. Get ready for a martial arts dance off under the disco ball. But be careful! The weapons of the dance floor are not claws and swords but a sense of rhythm and hot passion. Here you win hearts and love, not violence and pain!
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