Asian Glow 2024: A Great Send Off
Asian Glow: a name shrouded in sonic mystery. Their music shimmers with layers of emotion, weaving intricate melodies through genres like a silken thread. But who are the artists behind the sound? This month, we embark on a journey to unveil the faces, influences, and creative fire that fuels their music. We’ll also delve into their final release, “Unwired Detour,” and explore the path that led them here.
Diving Deeper
Musical Journey
Who is Asian Glow? This musical venture is the brainchild of Shin Gyeongwon, South Korean “slacker rock” star and shoegaze artist. His earliest musical appearances were from a band called FOG, which is also known as a shoegaze outfit in the burgeoning underground and indie scene in South Korea.
He then soon moved on as a solo artist, donning many monikers and releasing music here and there until he finalized his famous alter-ego Asian Glow. His repertoire mostly lives in TikTok and Bandcamp, where his cover albums, singles, EPs and LPs are available for aural consumption. His most lauded contributions to music come in the form of split albums from artists such as Parannoul (the Paraglow EP) and Weatherday (the Weatherglow album). These specific offerings were highly celebrated and praised by critics including Anthony Fantano of theneedledrop.
Genre Exploration
Asian Glow’s musical tastes are all over the place but mostly self-contained in the indie rock space. Elements like shoegaze, noise rock, post-punk, lo-fi rock and electronica envelop his overall sound.
Unveiling “Unwired Detour”
This is Gyeongwon’s final album under the Asian Glow moniker, as he announced that he will be retiring the name this year. Compared to his previous releases like Stalled Flutes, Cull Ficle and Nosferadoof, this is his most refined version production-wise. Everything is cleaner, expansive and the lo-fi filter has been cut out in favor of modern pop engineering standards. It is like every effort he’s done for the past 4 years has culminated in this sound, only to say goodbye to all of his listener base.
The album opens with Down in the sink, a softer Asian Glow song that slowly grows on you from the first listen. Gyeongwon’s lyrical approach lulling you to a false sense of security with lyrics pertaining to the descent to depression. And the album then ends with Tunnel of Glass, a banger of a closer! The rest of the tracks seamlessly mesh through like an earworm, integrating electronica, jungle, drum and bass, acoustic and more aggressive alt-rock
Conclusion:
Who knows what the future will bring for Gyeongwon and what his next musical project will be. All we can say is… dive deeper with us! Share your favorite songs, dissect the hidden meanings in “Unwired Detour,” and tell us what gets you buzzing about their music here at AsiaLive365. Let’s light up the comments section and celebrate the glow together! #AsianGlow #UnwiredDetour #AsiaLive365
