Balming Tiger are a many-headed beast. Formed in 2018, this 11-strong K-pop collective boasts a rotating cast of rappers, vocalists, writers, producers and cinematographers. Despite the mass of personalities involved, they’re a tight unit. In interviews they deliver neat slogans about their mission to bring Korean culture to the masses, like executives readying themselves for a product launch.
But there’s a riotous spirit underpinning that professionalism. Last year’s debut album, January Never Dies, is a collection of blissfully tongue-in-cheek songs that examine day-to-day life in Seoul, harnessing the rough edges of heavy metal with a pop sheen and exuberantly rapped verses. Kamehameha is a homage to chaotic drinking sessions, its video starring office workers who loosen their ties to get sloshed on soju, only to endure hungover hell at the next day’s meetings. Perhaps the band’s ethos is most neatly summarised by Sexy Nukim (Sexy Feeling). Featuring BTS frontman and Balming Tiger fan RM, it’s a call for listeners to ditch materialism and harness their inner self-confidence.
The group are a different proposition from their more polished K-pop peers, uninterested as they are in slick choreography and major record deals. Unusually, they’re an independent operation. “We started from a one-bedroom apartment in Seoul,” they told NME, “and now we’re about to shift the energy of the industry.” Next, they will share their short sci-fi film Moving for Word, a typically eccentric music video set across different locations from highways to swimming pools via underground bunkers. It’s a surreal but charming portal into their world, in which everyone can be a main character.
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January Never Dies is out now. Balming Tiger play Heaven, London WC2 on 2 July
Source: theguardian.com
