Korean Boyfriend - Simple Face

“They Might Be Giants… nastier… but with a smile.”­- Jim DeRogatis – Sound Opinions

“Catchy, wonky, new wave-influenced art-rock.” – Bandcamp

Oscillating between taut, abrasive textures and sprawling atmospherics, Korean Boyfriend’s sophomore full-length Simple Face blooms at the nexus of pop songwriting and sonic experimentation. Deeply nuanced in both production and arrangement, echoes of 80s synthpop and Lower East Side noise rock unite to form a bracingly fresh, compellingly modern record. A visceral, propulsive urgency buoys the overdriven synths, and walls of fuzz guitar mirror a pervasive sense of yearning. Deceptively forthright at first blush, Simple Face reveals a refined, high-minded approach to songcraft for those willing to plumb its depths.

Frontman, writer, and producer Stanley Cho grew up among C-41 chemicals and film canisters in his parents’ North Hollywood photo lab. An abstract tapestry of Los Angeles, woven of Asians, gangs, Guitar Center, Japanese cars, TV/Nintendo, and obscure films undergirds his work. As a youth, he transformed his parents’ Korean community church worship team into a Screamo band. Cho played with a variety of bands over the years, mostly punk related, touring many a tattoo parlor parking lot, and the typical LA rock clubs for local acts—Whisky, Cobalt Cafe, the original Mr. T’s. (He was once called the Asian Jimi Hendrix after a show at the Garage.)

Korean Boyfriend (aka KBF, KBEEF, K🐝F, K🥩) began as a parody K-Pop band but, informed by his new home of New York City, soon evolved into a conceptual framework existing only to nurture the aspect of play. No prerequisite was required to enjoy the gritty overdrive, warm analogue synths, and pretty melodies of his debut LP YELLOW. Set in a familiar context of quotidian pop-cultural references and pop music, necessarily tweaked by an outside point of view, the songs on YELLOW touched upon themes related to cultural institutions, fine art, Asian American insecurities, and punk nostalgia.

Following the release of YELLOW, Cho expanded his palette with additional vintage synths and pedals. A new infatuation with the bass guitar led to arrangements that are more direct in approach; less meandering than what one finds on YELLOW, more concise statements of intent.

Work on the record began back in Los Angeles, while the songs were finalized and recorded in Manhattan. It is fitting, then, that Simple Face is imbued with both the energy and ephemeral sense of fatigue that comes from existing in a gleaming, teeming, dirty megalopolis. “Simple Face, to me, is not complicated,” says Cho. “I hope listeners feel the grooves and connect with the vague adolescent gothic undertone.” So, we have a deeply real melodic snapshot of the pain and pleasure of contemporary humanity – that you can dance along to. Very much of the moment indeed.

All instrumentation, production, recording, and mixing was done by Cho.