What do you get when you mix Ariana Grande, Genshin Impact, Thom Yorke, BB King, and Nirvana?
Right, well: a mess. Or, maybe – indie pop?
Four-man South Korean band, Bami (바미), has released their most recent single, “I Don’t Know How to Be Alone”, a bass-line groovy, vocally wispy, and lyrically melancholy song about that pesky – but universal! – feeling of loneliness we all come to encounter. Urging his subject to stay, lead singer Ahn Tae Kyun begins each chorus with its only English line:
“Please don’t you run away.”
Wait, but what about Ariana Grande again?
Well, in nearly two years as a band and six released singles, their Instagram boasts a humble 18 posts. It’s only when I explored their individual accounts that the fascinating mélange of Bami began to unfold.
Drummer Yu Ji Hyeong posts a cover of “Bang Bang” by Ari, Jessie J, and Nicki; Bassist Choi Seung Hwa shares covers of the Genshin Impact OST; Guitarist Lee Ho Jin plays Chet Baker and Nirvana’s “In Bloom”; and lyricist and vocalist Tae Kyun broadcasts his wide array of inspirations, from Bill Evans and Jim Hall’s collab jazz album, Undercurrent, to BB King, Thom Yorke, and Zion.T. All of this with the occasional song rollout or cat photo.
Perhaps it’s this wide array of influence that gives Bami such a unique flavor in the midst of its mellow sound. Tae Kyun’s vocal performance has its own uniqueness, too – comparable to HYUKOH’s Oh Hyuk in its feathery rasp, but with an even lighter touch, especially profound in his deliciously airy soprano moments.
Bami’s music to this point has fluctuated between indie pop, dance jams, and nearly-ballads, but the same thread throughout has been its focus on loneliness and love, from their debut single, “Moonrise” about sharing a love confession by calling the moon beautiful, to their fifth single, “Mono”, about attempting (and failing) to stop a relationship from falling apart.
In a helpful coincidence, their second single, “Growing Pains” sounds, in fact, like the growing pains – or first draft – of this single. The bouncing chorus and relaxed tone of “I Don’t Know How to Be Alone” features in both, but the newest single is the band at its best. “Growing Pains” starts slow, sad, with barely any instrumentation. But “I Don’t Know How to Be Alone” is confident. At the start, the drums snap into space, the bass and guitar harmonize into rhythm, the melody flows in, giving Tae Kyun just enough space to showcase his talent while still getting the average listener to want to sing along. The result is a tight groove that sits perfectly in balance between their earlier dance tracks and tristful ballads.
But it’s really in the bridge where the band reaches its height. The lyrics reveal the honest desperation of the singer, the root of the lonely feeling that pervades the song:
“stains all over the place
telling my heart
hold me tighter, love me
as much as I love you”
The vocals sweep and drag up before dipping down into a delicate low harmonized with a chorus section, as the guitarist shows his jazz influences in perfect ornamentation. The bass and drums end the section with a fantastic twist and fall from their usual repetition, carrying the listener into a victorious last lap for the final chorus and a well-deserved overtime into the outro.
When I first found this song, I was being dragged by my neighbor’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniel down the sidewalk on one of those odd wind-whippingly cool days at the end of summer. As the song began to play, the wind, the tightening leash, the chatter of neighbors and leaves falling far too soon hushed down and fell into rhythm. I could see the scene for how silly it looked: my hair flinging across my face, tripping past the other walkers, headphones askew – all with a big smile, bopping my head along with the song.
Like Bami, I stopped fighting back; instead, I found a certain comfort in my loneliness – let’s say, a groove.
At the end of the day, perhaps none of us quite know how to be alone. I think that’s probably why music tends to find any ear left in silence too long.
So for now, I’m all too happy to be in Bami’s company.
