Revisiting music
It was via the Pastel Music 5th Anniversary compilation that I first encountered the music of Fanny Fink. Their lone representative song in the set was a Casker remixed "좋은 사람", which captivated me to the the point that I went ahead and made a point to purchase the album. Fanny Fink is yet another band that fits well into the Pastel Music mold of pretty female vocals over semi-electronic music, but they do it well, so I can't blame Fanny Fink or Pastel Music for their choice to work together.
It's very obvious from the start of Mr. Romance the kind of sound that Fanny Fink is going for, creating a pop rock undertone for Myoi's delicate and pretty vocals on the opening track "24" before turning more electronic for the similarly pretty pop of "향을 담은 비 (For Haru)". And like many of their peers, the group also takes an infusion of Latin sounds (via samba) on their third track, "Sweet" which has Myoi emoting vocally over the busy rhythms before declaring her love. And much of the rest of the album follows this overall vibe, varying between electronics ("11월") and acoustics ("널 만나러 가는 날") in the composition and arrangement of the songs.
Mr. Romance is a very atmospheric album most of the time, not quite reaching the depths of expression to be more than really nice coffeeshop or lounge music, however, the band's ballad tracks are actually surprisingly potent with Myoi pulling out some depth in her vocals, like in the gorgeous aforementioned song of desire "좋은 사람" and also in the breakup song "다신". And I think it's those genuine moments that really help elevate Mr. Romance beyond just being a collection of pretty songs for soundtracks or background music, the diversity of the tracks helping to keep the album's sound from becoming stale over its play.
It's hard to say that Mr. Romance is an essential of any sort when it comes to Korean indie music, but it is quite emblematic of the kind of music championed by Pastel, especially during the mid 2000's and Fanny Fink does this kind of music very well. What's more, they actually manage to find some more depth to their music and escape being merely pretty music with some of their more substantial songs. And that's enough for me to suggest them to anyone that's looking for this kind of sound. 8/10.
Tracklist:
- 24
- 향을 담은 비 (For Haru)
- Sweet
- 좋은 사람
- Signal Lamp
- 11월
- Railroad
- 널 만나러 가는 날
- 다신
- 민트 하늘의 꿈
- 바람의 노래를 들어라
- Lucia
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