While visiting Ruby Salon‘s mall a few weeks ago I came across something very interesting: a demo album from the solo project of 조휴일, also known as Bryan Cho of The Black Skirts. The title of it is My Feet Don’t Touch The Ground (And I’m So Winded I Can’t Sing For You Today) and it gathers 20 bedroom demos. It is not an official album, and it was pressed in no more than 500 copies to give to the fans that came to the gigs headlined by The Black Skirts in March.

Bryan warned me that not even the hardcore fans have been excited about it because it’s all so lo-fi and slow. And I suppose it is – “recorded through a shitty computer mic only with an acoustic guitar” of course it has nothing against the production qualities and arrangements on The Black Skirts’ 201, so if that’s what you had expected you’re bound to get disappointed. I got my copy yesterday (left over copies are still sold through Ruby Salon and mrkwang takes special orders) and can say that those of you that have listened to and liked Castel Prayon in the past have every reason to be excited.

It opens with a sweet rendition of Moon River and continues with one sweet song after the other. They’re all quite short (1-3 minutes each) but oh so charming I can’t help but like them all. I think it’s that voice of his – he could sing about anything and get away with it – and those brilliant passages in the lyrics too. And they’ve all got this intimate feeling to them. There’s not so much reminiscing of 201 on here, but at least there’s that heart-breaking part at the end of Tangled (“love stay with me”), repeated in the beginning of destroyed by love.