Seodo Band Releases Debut Studio Album for the First Time in 9 Years — “Koreans’ ‘Han’ Is ‘Chosun Pop’”

“Chosun Pop” pioneers “Seodo Band” have unveiled their first full-length studio album “Won.”” By carefully weaving traditional modes of expression from Korean traditional music with modern pop sounds, they are targeting the global music market with “han (恨)”—a uniquely Korean emotional force.

In a recent interview conducted at the Yonhap News Agency headquarters, “Seodo Band” said they aim to offer local listeners the familiarity etched into their “genes” through a fusion of Korean traditional music and pop, while giving overseas audiences a level of freshness no one has seen before. In particular, they pointed to “han (恨)” as the clearest point of difference from other K-pop artists, and they conveyed unwavering confidence that the most distinctly Korean sensibility will deliver strong competitiveness even on the world stage.

Perfect harmony of tradition and the modern… a culmination of a 9-year narrative

Formed in 2018, “Seodo Band” is a five-member band led by vocalist Seodo, with keyboardist Kim Seong-hyeon, guitarist Yeon Tae-hee, bassist Kim Tae-joo, and drummer Jung Hyun-bin. In 2021, they won the JTBC Korean traditional music crossover competition program “Pungnyu Daijang” with overwhelming skill, earning praise from both the public and critics.

Leader Seodo traced the historical context in which traditional music has transformed into trot or mainstream pop songs as the times have shifted, and he stressed that their music is also the result of a natural cultural evolution. That is why even modern listeners shaped by pop music can accept “Seodo Band”’s melodies without feeling alien. He assessed that this first full-length album will be both an archive recording the members’ stories and musical experiments built up over the past nine years, and a solid foundation for the band’s new leap forward.

The album title “Won” contains two meanings at once: the number “1,” symbolizing a first full-length release, and the figure “○,” representing an endless cycle. Along with the double title tracks “Until When” and “You, Me, and You”, the album also includes a total of seven songs—such as “Saranggga”, a contemporary reinterpretation of the pansori “Chunhyangga”, and “Ssukdaemairi”—raising the completeness of its narrative.

Beyond the weight of the “Pungnyu Daijang” crown… a preview of a distinctive live stage

Kim Tae-joo explained that the complex emotions of joy, sorrow, and longing embedded in “Chunhyangga” combine with “Seodo Band”’s uniquely popular sound to deliver an auditory catharsis that feels familiar yet unconventional. He then added that the album as a whole is threaded through with the core narrative of “Chunhyangga”, and he pointed out that the “aniri” (a segment in pansori where the storyteller unfolds the narrative in words rather than with 장단 rhythm) inserted in the middle of the songs is the album’s key point of enjoyment.

Winning “Pungnyu Daijang”, which had been the banner title, was both a treasured award of thanks and a task they had to surpass. Yeon Tae-hee said she was candid about the creative anguish she had experienced after the moment of winning while being trapped within the framework of traditional music, and she vowed that she will completely overcome that pressure and build an original musical world that only “Seodo Band” can walk in.

Meanwhile, “Seodo Band” will hold a one-off concert at the Baekjuncheon Memorial Hall at Seoul’s Yonsei University on the 16th right after the album’s release, where they will interact directly with fans. The members have been putting in relentless practice for a perfect stage to the point that they hear teasing from around them like, “Are you going back to the rehearsal room again?” Seodo said they have put tremendous effort into visual staging as well, including specially designed costumes they produced themselves, and she expressed deep satisfaction that in the present moment they can pour every imagination they want to realize as an artist onto the stage.