eundohee (은도희)

The new EP [Kookaburra] (To be released May 19th) from acclaimed singer-songwriter eundohee marks a further step in her growth as a performer. On the five-track release, the Korean native explores themes of self-reflection, mental health, and relationships but does so with an exuberant positivity that is rarely seen in her back catalog.

The music of eundohee defies easy categorisation, lying on a complicated cross-section of influences that include folk, trip-hop, indie rock, post-punk, electronica, and more. In Seoul's folk music scene, eundohee is celebrated for her deeply personal and often somber approach to songwriting. Here, however, she explores a bigger and brighter sound, an audible demonstration of someone falling in love with creating and recording.

Her unique style has translated into much-lauded live performances, culminating late last year when she was selected to support Stella Donnelly on the Seoul leg of her tour. She currently lives in Seoul but will be moving to the UK this year to study, perform, and explore her love of Anglo-American music.

Having been releasing music since 2018, [Kookaburra] is eundohee's first release on Beeline Records, a Seoul-based independent label that features acts like Wooze, WeDance, and Soullette.

A naturally introverted soul, the process of creating music allows eundohee to project herself in ways that she usually can't. "In this castle, I can be a singer-songwriter, an electronic musician, and an indie rock artist without any interruption. I am just one person, but songwriting is a means of role-playing that enables me to show many different aspects of myself through various genres of music. In my daily life, I usually have a hard time expressing myself, but when I compose music, I have no trouble expressing emotions that I struggle to convey with language. Every time I make a new song, I feel the ecstasy of creating something new; it is a kind of role-play that gives birth to a scene that has come from inside me."

Her relationship with music, however, has not always been this pleasant, and in early 2002, eundohee went down a dark path that almost led her to quit music. "There was a time when I developed a hatred for music and was not enjoying it anymore. I didn't want to write songs anymore, but somehow that only resulted in me writing more songs than ever. I wanted to prove to myself that I didn't hate music. In this period, I discovered that if I work hard on something, the results come out well. I also found out that the process is also fun and that results are not the only important thing."

Can we expect the same levity from Eundohee in the future? Who knows. She will be releasing an accompanying EP with this that explores her more electronic influences, and time will tell if that features the sunny style of this one. For now, though, this is the sound of a musician who loves what she is doing.