Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
The first EP by band O.O.O (which stands for Out Of Office), ‘Home’ sets O.O.O apart and demonstrates the band’s unique qualities and sound.
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In various interviews after the release of ‘Home’, O.O.O has discussed how each of the four members are so drastically different, even joking that the combination of the four members’ tastes represents the tastes of everyone in the world. Despite these differences, O.O.O states that they place emphasis on letting each member do what he likes. While such an approach could certainly go wrong, with O.O.O, everything simply works perfectly together to create the band’s unique, special sound.
With that said, the songs in ‘Home’ are not out-of-this-world, never-been-heard-before type songs. Rather, ‘Home’ is unique precisely because there’s a coming together of these different elements and it all sounds so natural and comfortable. It’s not flashy, it’s not trying too hard to create something new, nor is it trying to change one another’s tastes, it’s just the natural result of four different individuals learning to communicate with each other while still maintaining what each likes and does best.
The album opens with “Morning“, a condoling song about reluctantly waking up in the morning for another uncertain and tough day. The title track, “Lie“, is unique in that Ka Sung Hyun (the vocalist, guitarist, and member who wrote the lyrics) swapped the words “you” and “me” after writing the initial lyrics to create a new meaning and depict a person lying and hiding one’s feelings. Thematically, the songs in ‘Home’ deal with uncertainty, and the songs flow to tell a story of a hard day that ultimately starts and ends with home.
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Overall, what stands out about ‘Home’ is the quality of the music — how professional everything sounds. It’s hard to believe this is just the band’s first EP (and the first release with the current four-member lineup), and every aspect of the album boasts a level of professionalism and quality that’s difficult to match. O.O.O has surely set the bar high for themselves with ‘Home’, and they are certainly a band to keep on your radar.
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