Replay: Huckleberry Finn - 나를 닮은 사내

Revisiting music

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Huckleberry Finn's 나를 닮은 사내 (A Guy Who Looks Like Me) line-up is the debut of new lead singer, Lee Soyoung, and the solidifying of the band's sound with Lee Giyong taking over the majority of the band's songwriting. The result is a much more consistent album, which might not be as wild as the first, but certainly more focused and still rocking hard.

Lee Soyoung ends up being a great lead singer for the band as she brings serious rocker chick swagger and a voice that carries a similar huskiness to Nam Sangah, allowing her to fit right into the band's existing music and take over vocal duties for those songs. Musically, the core sound of Lee Giyong's songwriting is intact, meaning that 나를 닮은 사내 carries a grungy alt rock style of music, although the arrangements are occasionally a little more elaborate than the first album, like the strings that show up on the opening rocker "사막" and the slow burn "길들여진 개", which boasts piano in addition to strings. And then there's the sampling and turntables on "Shaker", which mixes surprisingly well with the alt rock in its spare presence.

There is no dire rocker like "죽이다" from their first album, but 나를 닮은 사내 also simply is packed full of potent rock songs ranging from slow and more mellow tracks, like the Lee Giyong fronted "Somebody to Love", to mid-tempo rock like "고양이" with its "Heart-Shaped Box"-like guitar screeches. Overall, the diversified arrangements do make the album feel relatively softer, at least inasmuch as you might say that grunge can be soft, but that certainly doesn't make 나를 닮은 사내 a soft album. It's packed full of pretty awesome alt rock and Lee Soyoung fits right into the band perfectly, making this album a dependable staple of early Korean alt rock. 8/10.

Tracklist:

1. 사막
   
2. Somebody to Love
3. A
4. 길들여진 개
5. 훌라
6. Shaker
7. Em
   
8. Oz
9. 길을 걷다
10. 고양이
11. Silver
    

Links:

• Additional Reviews: wakesidevision
• Available at MrKwang and YesAsia