Reporter: Kim Hee Ju
Photographer : Chae ki-won
Editor : Lee Ji-Hye
Editor : Jessica Kim
Lucid Fall [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]
<div class="blockquote">Ma Jong-ki, a poet that Lucid Fall likes, once said, "I went looking for poems because I wanted to console myself. That is why from the beginning, they have not had much to do with rhetoric but not once have they not been sincere. Because what is not sincere cannot console me." Hence what poetry is for Ma Jong-ki is what music is for Lucid Fall. Lucid Fall's fifth album "Beautiful Days" is a collection of music showing how he has focused more on himself than being conscious of others. His music has always healed the listener but this album, where he paid closer attention to himself, seems as if he applied an extra coating of ointment on even the smallest wounds to his heart and blew a soothing breath to it. Below is 10Asia's interview with Lucid Fall just days after the calendar flipped to the year 2012.Lucid Fall [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]
The title of your album is "Beautiful Days." So I think people can't help but compare it to your forth album "Les Miserables." Lucid Fall: Everything that the audience felt and thought are probably all correct. I may be yearning for the beautiful days that have gone by or a longing nostalgia. Everybody has a time that they remember for extremely long times, right? Beautiful days that you cannot go back to. Or it may be of the hope for the beautiful days that'll come in the future. When I was working with Cho Yoon-sung, she once sent me a text message saying, 'Life is so beautiful' when we usually say, 'Good hard work' after we do something. But if you think about it, while a lot of work may be tough physically, there's also a lot of work that we do because we like it. It feels weird when someone tells me, 'Good hard work' after I'm done with a concert that I enjoyed. I guess it's because that's just the basic sentiment that Korean people have... that one needs consolation because it's hard to make a living, regardless of whether that experience is good or bad. And I think that's why one could also let the fun and happy moments slip by. Like Cho Yoon-sung said though, each and every day could be a beautiful day. So I myself thought of a lot of things with the title. You said you came to focus more on yourself because you were working during a rough time. That's why I think I'd say that the album ends as 'beautiful days' than start with it.Lucid Fall: I don't know why either. Why I was so depressed. I guess having broken up with my girlfriend must've played a big part but I'd also had a hard time before and after that. It may have hit me harder than it does others... After all, it's just something that everyone goes through in life and wasn't all that different but I just had a hard time with it personally. It's not even like I fought a disease or sought exile or was a prisoner of conscience but in a lot of the lyrics, it looked like I had an immensely hard time. It really wasn't to that extent though. [laughs] Well sadness differs for everyone. For example, you'd feel more pain over a splinter in your hand than someone else's broken arm. And I think your music acknowledges that.Lucid Fall: Well this is the belief I have regarding religions as well but I think humans are beings that are dragged about. And that's why it's important that we admit that we're sad when sad and lonely when lonely. But I'm also against getting pulled into sadness due to pessimism. Because it only gives you a hard time. It's better to hurt less by exchanging cheerful and positive energy with others. I wondered whether your popularity increased from appearing on television starting with your fourth album would affect your new album but it doesn't seem to have had any influence.Lucid Fall: It didn't. It's not like I've become extremely popular. It's only to the extent that a few people at the stores in my neighborhood recognize me or I can exchange a few more words with the owner of restaurants. It had nothing to do with making my album. I rather made it with the hope that those who really want to pay attention to my music would listen to it. And such thinking made it easier for me to make the album. That's why I don't really have anything to say when people ask me what the theme of the album is. I really wish I could make songs in the way I intend to but for me, an album is a collection of songs I made in the way they turn out to be. I put in songs that I wrote and worked on when I was home alone in the summer of 2011. Without having the time to think about how I've changed from when I worked on my fourth album. Then what principles or concerns did you have?Lucid Fall: Hmm... That it needs to be new. New but not force it to be new and that it should be the same yet different and different yet the same. Of course, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thinks of such things. This may sound abstract but thinking of things such as which parts need to change and which parts I need to keep. The second thing is in regards to my handicap and strengths. Because what I regard my handicap could be my strength and how I'm unique. And sometimes, I may hate it but others may like it. I can see this just by how my acquaintances and musicians around me tell me that I look the best when singing while just playing the guitar. And I guess that is more of just who I am because I make my demos with just a guitar or piano but it also makes me worry that I'm settling for the way that things are. Hence I reflected on myself a lot because if I kept doing music that I want and became a singer with 20 albums, the sort of music that I do now would be a very small part of the music that defines me and therefore, that I shouldn't draw the line to how I'm unique and what my strengths are. And I think I'll pay attention to this everytime. I do think I changed a bit this time in the sense that I thought, 'Let's do what I want to do, look at things in the long term, if I keep going forward without being scared I'll be able to expand on the range of music I can do.'※ Any copying, republication or redistribution of 10Asia's content is expressly prohibited without prior consent of 10Asia. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.10 아시아 Reporter: Kim Hee Ju fifteen@10 아시아 Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@10 아시아 Editor : Lee Ji-Hye seven@10 아시아 Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@<ⓒ즐거움의 공장 "10 아시아" (10.asiae.co.kr) 무단전재 배포금지>