Percussion drives “Janjan” from the opening bar. Producer bj wnjn and drummer Jeon Iljun build an insistent rhythm with live drums, keys and synthesisers to establish a continuous pace. A mass of voices chants the vocals as a collective physical drill. Its refrain runs through a body-part sequence, “head, shoulders, waist, feet, knees,” lifted from a children’s rhyme and turned into a command to drop weapons, join hands, and move in unison. The destination is a paradise located nowhere, approached by raising a flame high enough for its light to clear the ridge. This is one of the more physical stretches on Gongbu, the second album from Seoul collective Balming Tiger, and it takes hold in seconds.

Ten vocalists appear on the recording: sogumm, Mudd the student, Omega Sapien, Unsinkable, Abyss and San Yawn, alongside four guest singers. Three of them, sogumm, Mudd the student and San Yawn, wrote the song with bj wnjn. The sessions ran across four rooms: drums and percussion cut at Philos’ Planet, bass at Moollon Studio with Mulsoo playing, guitars, keys and synthesisers at Saseumbeolle, and vocals at Mudd the student’s own studio.

Balming Tiger have operated out of Seoul since 2018 and now number eleven members whose work runs through hip-hop, funk, soul and rock, a range that tests the alternative K-pop label attached to them. The collective doubles as a production and management company, releasing other young Korean artists through it. Gongbu was self-released on 19 May, with “Janjan” placed in the percussion-led sequence that opens the record ahead of the title track. An animated video accompanies it, directed by Takahashi Riku of DOKUZEN.

Listen to “Janjan” HERE and stream Gongbu following THIS LINK