In today’s post, I will talk about one of my favorite musicgroups. Without a doubt, Korean music has reached several corners in the world thanks to great figures that have allowed to spread such as Super Junior, Big Bang and currently BTS. This opening has also helped smaller groups and companies to become visible. There are many groups that have slowly obtaining recognition and are considered Indie; Hyukoh is one of these groups that appeared at the music scene in 2014 and has not stopped reaping success with its Indie Rock. An interesting fact is that artist as IU are fans of the group. Bellow you will find a little about the band and some of its songs.
Taken from Discogs – https://www.discogs.com/es/artist/4490893-Hyukoh
The band was officially formed in May 2014 as independently by four men born in 1993. One particularity about this band is that it is not an idol band with great choreographies and various singers; but it is more similar to the idea of a rock band with the instrumental and vocal part. Hyukoh is formed by four members: the leader is Oh Hyuk who lived almost his whole life in China because of his parent’s occupations when he came back to Korea he decided to start in this musical career, Lim Hyun-jae as lead guitarist, Im Dong-gun as bassist and Lee In-woo as drummer.
Hongdae, Seoul. Taken from Unsplash https://unsplash.com/es/fotos/viI-Zka2zo0?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink
From Hongdae in Seoul and the underground scene to big stages. Hyukoh has been a success because of their unique sound, their fresh songs that even talk about youth and its problems. In 2014, they released their first mini album “20” with the agency Cashmier Records. The following year, they gained fame because their participation in variety programs such as “Infinite Challenge” during the Summer Music Festival, it allowed them great succes in music chars of Melon, Genie and Naver, being in the Top 10. In 2015, they also performed in concerts in Tokyo and Seoul with their new album “22”- Also, the lead singer was part of several collaborations which will be mentioned below. In 2016, they participated in music festivals such as Strawberry Music Festival in Shanghai and Beijing, then Summer Sonic Festival in Japan.
Concert. Taken from Unsplash https://unsplash.com/es/fotos/QdmUva6qBTk?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink
For their third year, they released the album “23” that has songs with a diversity of sounds and some wonderful videos recorded in different places including Mongolia. In this album, there are songs such as “Tomboy” and “Wanli.” An interesting aspect about the group’s songs is that they are in Korean, English and even Chinese, because the vocalist Oh Hyuk is trilingual. In the same year, some songs for his solo project are released. In 2018 and 2019, they have concerts like “24 How to find true love and happiness” In Seoul and Europe, their album had the same name. In addition, they participated in Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In 2020, they had a World tour which was cancelled because of COVID-19. That year they released their album “Through Love.”
Hyukoh has received support from multiple Korean artists known for their excellent musical work; for instance, in 2017 several artists mentioned the band on their Twitter and Instagram accounts such as Benzino, IU, Tablo and GB of GOT7. In addition, they have made collaborations with some of them and thus diverse hits with fresh and beautiful sounds have emerged. The truth is that the lead vocalist is the one who has shared stages with more artists because of his unique voice. In 2015, Oh Hyuk worked with the group Primary on the album Lucky You with songs like “Gondry” and “Bawling;” also with Code Kunst on the song “Parachute.” In 2017, he collaborated with the group Epik High with the song called “Home is Far Away” and with IU on the song “Can’t Love You Anymore.” Later, he worked with Zion. T and Dynamic Duo. It is interesting that Oh Hyuk has participated on making OST for Tv dramas such as Reply 1988 with songs like “Little Girl.”
Definitely, if you have not heard Hyukoh, you are missing out on a Korean musical gem. They are a wonderful group that has brought innovative music to the national and international scene. Their vocalist has an angelic and unique voice and both he and the group has done collaborations with very worthwhile artists. One particularity is that they are known for their style when it comes to dressing. I invite you to expand your musical repertoire with Hyukoh, I assure you that you will love some of their songs!
Written by: Andrea Ramírez
