Bongjeingan – Indie comes to Korea.

Bongjeingan in session tonight – recorded by the band on May 22, 2023.

Persistence pays off. After hearing rumors about an Indie scene in Korea (since we already know there’s one, up and running in Japan) and getting various conflicting reports that the scene is thriving – the scene is dying out and the scene is just getting started, I thought some further investigation and digging was called for. True to form, consulting KoreanIndie.com yielded a few sites, some dead links and the proverbial rabbit hole where the functioning links featured other functioning links and where one band was featured, it generally pointed to five other bands whose websites were either functioning, dead or thriving.

Needless to say, there’s a scene – it’s not a huge scene and some of it isn’t focused, but K-Indie is a happening genre and it’s worth taking a detour this weekend to go exploring and discovering.

One band I found is Bongjeingan. After wading through the language barrier, I did stumble across a Wikiwand page dedicated to them, so I will pass it on to you:

Bongjeingan (Korean: 봉제인간) is a South Korean indie rock band. The band was formed in 2022 and consists of Chiyoonhae (the member of Parasol and Sultan of the Disco), Lim Hyeonje (the member of Hyukoh), and Jeon Iljoon (the member of Kiha & The Faces). The band released a studio album 12 Languages (12가지 말들) (2023).

Bongjeingan was officially formed in May 2022 when they supported the concert of Hyodo & Bass. They performed at the Pentaport Rock Festival and the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival shortly after their formation, and gained popularity with their distinctive style.

They released a single in December 2022 consisting of two tracks, Gaekkum and Good, of which they released a music video for Good. Kim Byeongwoo of Music Y described the song as “It’s a single that shines fresh with a comeback that flashes like a spark while the half-cut lyrics and music sparkle and then disappears.” They released their first studio album 12 Languages (12가지 말들) in 2023.

I’m not sure if the band is still together and what other venues have they performed at or if they’ve released any additional material

Until I get that sorted out, have a listen to this session – recorded live outdoors on a lake.