Review Summary: Storms battering the desert.
Thornapple are a quintessentially Korean rock band. It’s in the folk-tinged melodies that they play, in their introspective and enigmatic commentary of urban life (more evident on their 2016 EP Seoul Sickness). The phenomena of the natural world is omnipresent in Thornapple’s (100% Korean-language) lyrics, yet inevitably linked to the disturbances of humankind.
On the surface of
Abnormal Climate: calm water. “남극” (Antarctic) is cool and collected, occupying the chilliest (or should I say chillest?) section of the world created by this Seoul quartet. Yoon Sunghyun’s voice is a gentle breeze here, mirroring his “[liking] the wind that blows after the rain”. But his attitude is not so gentle: “the things I like still outnumber the things I like”. It’s a sentiment that I don’t find myself sharing about this album, though I’m glad that he refrains from gentleness for the most part; “*란다” (Veranda), the softest track, is repetitive and soporific. It’s fortunate that the eerie, film-noir-evoking “암실” (Darkroom) twists restraint on its head with an explosion of distorted guitars at its midway point.
The peace of “Antarctic” is disturbed as Thornapple drops a hook into the water with “시퍼런 봄” (Blue Spring); it’s a track that might draw J-rock comparisons. I mean it when I say hook: “Blue Spring” has an infectious energy, with a rhythm somehow matching a person’s natural running patterns. It’s all fitting, as spring is the season of growth and flourishing life; but in the labyrinthine mind of Sunghyun, he has twisted it into a period during which “flowers of unknown names bloom” above “seething, boiling ground”. “피난” (Refuge) is the ripple, the natural follow-up to “Blue Spring”; it’s just as effortlessly catchy, a slightly nonchalant piece that looks at you coolly in the eye. However, it’s “낯* 열대” (Strange Tropics) that no doubt takes the award for “best-structured catchy yet actually troubled rock song”; its false climaxes, unusual build-ups, and lack of verse-chorus-verse structure make it extremely rewarding when it hits its peaks. It invites you to scream along to lines such as “today’s a day where a similar number of people died on the streets as yesterday”. “아지랑이” (Haze), the most “standardly structured” song of
Abnormal Climate, has no hope of living up to “Strange Tropics” despite being a fairly strong, shoegaze-influenced piece in its own right.
Both “백치” (Idiot) and “물가의 라이온” (Lion on the Shore) are deceptively playful and jaunty; imagine a picture of two children playing, and then imagine that they’re actually playing on a minefield. “Idiot”, with its childlike charm and an almost comedically-styled vocal performance, drips with irony and misanthropic condemnations; the contrast between its cheerful riff and the Sisyphean struggle it portrays (actually a recurring theme throughout
Abnormal Climate) is nearly gasp-inducing. “Lion on the Shore” begins with a whistle and military drums, and sounds utterly boastful; “despite the pain, even when my body melts, I walk forward one step at a time”, Sunghyun sings triumphantly, as the song swings along to its pentatonic melodies. Whether it’s a reference to mandatory military service, I don’t quite know - but pain has never sounded so glorious.
“살아있는 너의 밤” (translated variously as Your Night Alive or Night of the Living Dead) rightfully takes its place as the centrepiece of the album. How seductive the first half feels, like silken sheets and a lover’s bedroom, and Thornapple evoke this with little more than Sunghyun’s soft crooning and mellow strumming. Never mind that it’s extremely cryptic - plenty of people have made love with those that they misunderstand.
The waters of
Abnormal Climate are much deeper than they appear. You can float lazily on the surface and still glean much enjoyment, but if you hold your breathe and dive, you may be surprised by what you find.
