Mini interview with Autumn Vacation

가을방학
Since I first laid ears on Autumn Vacation‘s super lovely self-titled song 가을 방학 I’ve wanted more. I’ve admired Bobby Chung‘s songs for about as long as I’ve been listening to Korean indie music, and Gyepy‘s vocals appeal to me like no other female vocals can. The combination was fantastic, and I’ve been curious to learn more on the duo since. A year later there’s finally an album and Bobby and Gyepy both kindly answered a few questions for Indieful ROK:

Could you please start by introducing Autumn Vacation?
Gyepy : We are a duo team; Bobby Chung writes all songs, and I sing.

Bobby : Autumn Vacation is a musical project which has a very simple principle – a guy writes songs and a girl sings them. I started my musical career with 언니네 이발관 (Sister’s Barbershop) and have led bands such as Julia Hart and Bobbyville.

How did you come to work together?
Gyepy : After I quit my last band, Broccoli You Too, Bobby called me and proposed to record a couple of songs. I was a fan of his band, Julia Hart, so I agreed without hesitation. At first, we didn’t think about making a band. We worked just casually. But we loved the first outcome (the name of the first song we recorded was Autumn Vacation), and the work went on naturally. The songs piled up. At some moment we decided to make a team.

Bobby : Gyepy was first introduced to music listeners by her brilliant performance in Broccoli, You Too. I was one of her biggest fans and hoped I could work with her. I met her in the middle of the parking lot of Grand Mint Festa 2008 and she asked me to let her help me by recording backing chorus. Several months after, I proposed her to record some demos. The session went really good. And then more demos, a digital single, a record contract and here we are.

How would you like to describe your music? Has anything changed since last year’s single?
Gyepy : There may be the feelings people have about the mixed word, “autumn vacation”. There is no such vacation, but it makes people think about good weather and peaceful or sentimental mind, such as walking in the small park. I suppose our music is just like our name.

Bobby : To describe my own music seems a losing game, but I’ll do it. This is my try: thought-provoking-easy-listening. Haha. I self-produced [가을방학/3월의 마른 모래] and this time a veteran producer Byunghoon Lee (이병훈) led the whole recording session. He’s a musical genius and I learned a lot during the session.

What feelings do you hope to inspire with the new album?
Gyepy : Bobby’s lyrics are the most important part of Autumn Vacation; in his lyric, there are not only just the emotions in life, but also the contemplation. I needed to think about the meanings of the lyrics before I recorded the songs, and they were changed each time. I hope that people can enjoy the beautiful lyrics like me.

Bobby : Gyepy has a great singing voice and her clarity when singing delicate melodies and sophisticated lyrics is just amazing. I hope listeners could find their own reason to love her voice.

As Gyepy said, students in Korea get vacation every season except autumn. And though I myself have gotten a fair share of (dark and cold) autumn vacations during my school years, I do think the music of Autumn Vacation evokes just those feelings she described. The music may be as lovely all year round, but it’s even more perfect paired with the wonderful autumn one can experience in Korea.

To learn more on Bobby Chung’s other awesome projects, check out this mini interview with Julia Hart, and check back later this week for a mini interview with Bobbyville.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.