feversend | Epik High Is Here 上 (Part 1): Day Zero to One

Epik High Is Here! The love of my life and a piece of my soul Epik High just dropped their new album- their latest music in two years and their first full-length album since they left YG in 2018, first since We've Done Something Wonderful back in 2017 aka the album that saved my life. It's their eighteenth debut anniversary in coming October and this is their tenth studio album, the first part of a double album and I have been waiting and anticipating and basically counting down every moment of my life till its release. And here it is.

I'm writing this a whole day after the album dropped just so I could put it on loop and let it settle for a bit. I'm still going to put in some of the thoughts I typed out in my first listen frenzy but I'll also put down my favourite lyrics.

You can listen to the album here and I do suggest you listen to it before reading this because there are a few 'spoilers' that I throw in here and there. You can watch Rosario and Based on a True Story music videos on their youtube channel. All the lyrics translations are from my trusted and long-time archive at epikhightrans on tumblr. But I did refer to Genius first and extensively as it was released along with the album itself.

I should clarify that I'm not a musician or an expert or a music student. I'm just a very excited and active listener and lover of music. So if I say something that's 'musically' wrong it's probably because I'm only pointing out things /I/ hear when listening to the track (everybody's hears sounds/music differently etc etc). Feel free to ask me for a look at my incomprehensible worddoc from yesterday's streaming if you're interested.

Track 1: Lesson Zero

There is a ten second silence before the music comes on and you aren't sure whether you pressed play or not before the piano comes on. It's more than a minute before Tablo's voice begins on a Lesson track which is essentially Tablo's Word, that is, a Tablo solo track. It's so much mellower in sound than the previous Lesson tracks, which is I suppose to be expected- the last Lesson was Lesson Five from Shoebox (an album I like to think of their YG-est) seven years ago. It's thematically talking about the same things- reject the popular teachings you're given- but it's a lament more than a rant. It's also called Zero, instead of Six, signaling a conscious attempt to shift gears on this album even as they "circle back" to their roots- Lesson One, on their debut album, also a Tablo solo goes "Why do we learn history? To fix stories for the guilty?" On Zero, they say "They want you busy stepping to the right side of history, To keep you from the inside of history." This is just one of the many lyrical/ and thematic callbacks in Zero to One, though one can argue it's thematically connected to almost every other Epik High track.

Favourite Lyrics:

That to feel is to be weak, to suppress emotion
So no one sees you had a heart till your chest is open

Track 2: Rosario ft. CL & ZICO

This is the one whose sound I was most on the fence about after my first listen but it has already grown on me so much in a day and the credit goes to the brass entirely. There's a good number of tracks with that sort of catchy Spanish guitar influence (flamenco guitar is it called?) and this was anyway slower than I expected it to be from the teaser but the horns make its sound oh so triumphant which is what they have to be going for putting CL on a track and having her sing "Out of my way, I am a legend and I’m here to stay". If B.I. was put on this with CL this would have undoubtedly been read as the fuck YG track but and this definitely has a bit of that Born Hater vibe, lyrically, but a bit meaner, a little more bitter? Slow track or not, Tablo's flow is incredible on this one, by far my favourite verse of his in the album, among the upbeat songs. I love" the cadence of CL's voice when she sings "When it rains, I’ll dance in the rain." Also: the barking sounds when Mithra starts with "I hear mad dogs howling all day." *_*

Favourite Lyrics:

Those hands, hidden in the dark and dancing with swords
Throw at me with ease, like a single word

Track 3: 내 얘기 같아 (Based On A True Story) ft. HEIZE

I was so, so, soo thrilled when I saw the tracklist and saw Heize on it, she's one of my favourite soloists, her songwriting i beautiful and her sound is so unique. Part of me was really hoping for a return of Rapper Heize, as always, even if logically I know that's unlikely to happen on an Epik High album. This track feels like it was produced specifically for a Heize feature with it's classical instruments and that slow jazz feel- I'm thinking classic Heize, You, Clouds, Rain and even Jenga along with Lyricist from her last EP. You hear this song and you think, oh this is a period piece, or this sounds like a Heize song. It's both. I think that might be its only weakness as well. It sounds too much like a Heize track so it might not call too many listeners back to it. But then again, the strings post the second chorus are incredible and the accordion!! It's placement reminded me of like...the whistling in Day6's I Need Somebody.. or the flute in EXO's Groove- just that feeling of AH What's That! The lyrics are also very relatable to anyone who gets easily emotional over media, to put it one way, and it isn't until very late in the song they hint that it's about a breakup.

Favourite Lyrics:

The truth is, I’m afraidThat I might feel something that is entirely mine
Even a single loose strand of emotion gets snipped off
In case just a single tug would unravel this skin that is me

Track 4: 수상소감 (Acceptance Speech) ft. B.I

The moment this started I went huh, what older Epik song does this remind me of and not until the sample did I realise, failure of a Bleed enthusiast that I am. Here, the "What doesn’t kill me can only make me bleed" harks back to the Bleed's "What doesn’t kill me only makes me bloody, so I just bleed on this breakbeat." It's also got the same sad defeatism and mental...apathy and exhaustion as Bleed, though the ending does break out of it a little; "the show goes on" actually made me think of Encore - the repeated "I didn't realise that the show was over" that ends with "the show goes on" on that track. I'm not exactly an Ikon fan but I must admit it was lovely hearing B.I.'s voice after so long. That faint recurring melody when the track starts is like this one Zubeen Garg song but I'll never admit to that again. You can watch a live performance of this song here.

Favourite Lyrics:

They buy my heart as they please then sell it back wounded
Standing on rights they were never given

Track 5: LEICA ft. Kim Sawol

The return of the jazz instruments- the brass, the piano motif- the same notes keeping looping and it shapes the song's rhythm more than the beat itself, in my opinion. Tablo's verse is so personal and really lays the groundwork for the quiet, understated sort of self-acceptance and contentment that the song reflects. I didn't think much of it before I read the lyrics but once I had those I sort of felt it- the okayness of daily life and life as it is really. Kim Sawol's voice is what you would expect on an Epik High track like this, especially to go with that piano- quite like Heize's voice actually.

Favourite Lyrics:

The only time worth is that spent loving and being loved

Track 6: 정당방위 (In Self-defense) ft. Woo, Nucksal & CHANGMO

Another song where the beat itself much slower than the rap verses but damn that bass is so badass and foreboding. I am a big fan of the way the music halts at different intervals also the melody once Nucksal starts wrapping...very eerie I love it so much. I don't know why they recorded that conversational opening but I love it, that loud laugh boomed and I went yeah that's Nucksal. Honestly, I'm still taking in the lyrics for this one. There are four elaborate rap verses so it will definitely take more time to sink in. I mean, it is standard diss rap stuff mixed with commentary but then there's Mithra's verse which as always reads like an academic analysis of class and corruption in society. I really like the way Changmo comes on this one, though Tablo's verse (I did not miss that reference to 'Jongshik-ie" even the first time round) is also so so good.

Favourite Lyrics:

Even the enemies of my enemies
All like me, you say? Haha
Tell ‘em I can’t make it today

Track 7: True Crime ft. Miso

If you listen to this loud enough, that beat pulses right in your chest, I kid you not. The drop is a little unlike Epik High but it suits Miso and the EDM-esque sound lends to the call and response between "I'd do anything" and "It's only us" in the post-chorus. On my first listen, I thought the opening verses reminded me of Here Come The Regrets and I don't entirely rescind that statement after reading the lyrics. If you read the lyrics for the chorus and the verses separately they seem like two different songs and even put together there is a dissonance; how else do you reconcile "I’d open up my chest for your entertainment" with "Love is found wherever the heart travels, Wherever that may be". I have a growing feeling that this is intentional. So, this could be a toxic relationship set in an apocalyptic/ post-apocalyptic setting but most likely with unreliable narrators, obsession clouding their judgement- at least the most literal meaning seems to be this. There is also the more interesting rebuke of innocence/untaintedness that is just for show. Of course for me the bet bit is Tablo going "even if we break any law, love is love". I wonder if the opening was an unused draft or that cassette sound like in Tape 2002 7 28 was intentional.

Favourite Lyrics:

Instead of the false chastity of abstinence
The obscenity we write from head to toe
Is a word of poetry to me

Track 8: Social Distance 16

Perhaps the cassette sound was deliberate given how this continues with a similar audio, record scratches and that..90s-ish beat. So obviously this is the pandemic track you'd think expect... not really? They start off with that sure, but it strays back to their usual themes- industry critique, art and fame, and the like. The melody is really woeful, the piano and that loud wall of rising sound in the background (possibly vocals?) add to that a lot. But the lyrics actually have more in common with Lullaby For A Cat, in my opinion. A brief illustration: "This damn scene got me from healthy to diseased, ain’t nothing new, I’ve always been social distancing" on this song as against "A party of one or party of none, please keep me disinvited." The production of this track is really a stand out for me, it's those damn vocals- i can imagine this on a Guru Dutt film's OST, you know?

Favourite Lyrics:

Sometimes I go crazy in silence
Instrumental breakdown

Track 9: End of the World ft. G-Soul

And the guitar returns. Honestly, G-Soul opened the track and I was like...I don't want to say Chris Brown song, but yeah that's what I thought. Mostly because of GSoul's tone over that acoustic guitar line and the RnB vibes once the beat kicked in and it went away as the song progressed but yeah. Actually, the melody keeps nagging me because I can't place what else I've heard that this reminds me of, I'll leave an edit here if and when I do pinpoint what that's about. Here too, the lyrics for the chorus and verses seem to be so different in tone- I wonder if its like the verses represent faithlessness and disbelief while the chorus represents the blind faith they're trying to break out of. I love the pause where it's just silence and the bass over it and the switchover to the drums from a trap beat- and then GSoul's background vocals kick in and wow, what an incredible sound. The only thing that makes it better is the ending, the piano notes over that synth looping behind it- it's so relentless (no lyrics but it still gets you thinking of "I want you to love me like it's the end of the world").

Favourite Lyrics:

Been long since communication turned into pain

Every time you open your mouth, you lose some

Whenever I open my eyes, I see the end of a century stretched before me

Track 10: Wish You Were

The last tracks flows on to this one so smoothly and the recurring motif continues, even though the actual sound is different. Tablo is closing the album alone, which means two solo tracks which is probably why neither are Tablo's Word- or neither are meant to be his Word, I suppose. I know the structure of this track is pretty close to what Lullaby for a Cat was like but something stops me from likening this to that, possibly how personal this is and what Lullaby was meant to be, that too on an album called sleepless in __________. Here, the clicking noises almost sounds like the ticking of a clock. There are barely any lyrics to this and yet Tablo sneaks in one clever little wordplay.

Favourite Lyrics:

And people's take on that is that I'm washed up
Well, dear
All my peers are drowning in their past

I do have a bit more to say about the album as a whole. I've seen a few comments on the subreddit saying this sounds seems like a successor to Remapping the Human Soul, some saying it's sound is very similar to We've Done Something Wonderful. I do see where they're coming from. I've already pointed out particular tracks which remind me of tracks from We've Done Something Wonderful and there are certain choices in instrumentation and the 'brooding' energy that is similar to Remapping the Human Soul. But these do not seem distinct or intentional enough for me to call this album either of their successors. 'Broody' themes are Epik High's sacred playground: that's hardly enough of a thematic similarity. There are some tracks on Remapping the Human Soul, especially the instrumentals ones that do seem to tie in very well with this album but put together they sound more like the soundscape of specific film genres (see: Love: Crime, Underground Railroad, Slave Song) rather than the larger sound it seems to build on this album.

In the documentary they released a few days before their comeback, they say want to do something different, as the scene opens to them in L.A. That's the only bit I watched before writing this because I realised it was going to be a track by track breakdown and I wanted to put my own thoughts out there before listening to their notes. It's mostly about their lyrics not so much about the music but I am pretty satisfied with my own reading of their songs, though I have refrained from giving a total lyric breakdown here, for my sanity's sake- ten tracks is a lot.

I do believe that this does achieve that distinction in sound that they were striving for while staying true to their ethos. The instrumentation on the tracks on this one, firstly are so vivid. There are multiple tracks where there is so much happening in your earbuds, sounds changing and shifting as tracks progress from opening verse to closing. This is not a tried and tested Epik High sound. And sonically I find it vastly different from the last two full length albums particularly- We've Done Something Wonderful and Shoebox. They also play around with structure a lot. The rap verse-chorus-rap verse-chorus-bridge-chorus/closing rap formula is abandoned on most tracks. There's either no apparent bridge or no hook. Songs are short, very short. I like this confident brevity, it brings a certain cohesiveness to the album but also makes it wistful and a tad bit lonesome.

The use of silence- negative space- in between or around the tracks is also very intriguing. The first track itself starts 'late' and all the tracks until LEICA have a couple seconds of silence on the track before the next one begins; the final lyrics of Rosario, in fact, are "a moment of silence".

In the documentary, Tablo highlights the last three tracks to showcase his idea of a gradual ending to the album but to me the pattern begins on True Crime itself, an apocalyptic love song leading all the way to a song literally called The End of the World. And I suppose that's why Social Distance 16 alone doesn't feel like much of a covid track- it's the package of those final songs as a whole that's talking about this journey; I called it apocalypse and they are referring to the pandemic.

Put the album on a loop and you'll discover the most seamless transition on it is actually the one from Wish You Were to Lesson Zero- I'm talking Rain Again Tomorrow to Lullaby for A Cat level good, perhaps better. They're both Tablo solos in English with this echo of solitude and melancholy but that feeling is created in different ways, as far as the sounds of the tracks are concerned. It's brilliant because it makes the listener listen to the album all over again. And again.

There are certain new names credited on the album, unsurprising since they went all the way to L.A. to record it- notably Rabbitt or Jason Yik Nam Wu, and Hayley Gene Penner, both of whom I've heard of because they're credited on (잘 지내지) How You Been, my favourite track on Eric Nam's The Other Side. Given how Eddie Nam is Epik High's international manager, it's not a terribly giant leap to make to see how this album came about but they're credited on two tracks each so I don't think it is solely their addition that's brought about this freshness in sound.

I am frankly really, really thrilled with the album. No favourite lyrics or tracks overall...yet, at least as I'm simply enjoying the feeling of having new Epik High music. It takes a while to come but it is always worth it. I spent much of the second half of last year pulling myself forward with this album in mind and now that it's here I'll do the same with the music in my hands...and the anticipation of Part 2 because holy shit what will that sound like?

I have no parting words, only more love for Epik High and the solace of their music. Please talk to me about them, listen to them if you haven't ever and if you're a High Skool who has by some stroke of chance stumbled upon this and disagree with me and want to pick a fight..don't. I'll cry.