[Edaily Starin KIM HYUNSIK Reporter] "This album serves as a record of Seo Do Band’s musical journey and is also a declaration that redefines the identity of the 'Joseon Pop' genre."

In a recent interview with Edaily at KG Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul, Seodo Band described

first

, as “an important turning point that opens a new chapter.”
Seodo Band is a five-member group consisting of Seodo (vocals), who has been studying pansori since the age of five, along with Yeon Tae-hee (guitar), Kim Tae-ju (bass), Jeong Hyun-bin (drums), and Kim Seong-hyun (keyboard). They have established their musical identity as “Joseon Pop,” which reinterprets the charm of traditional music within a pop music format.
Formed in 2018, they gained attention by winning the 2021 JTBC music competition program “Pungryu Daejang.” The following year, they received the Frontier Award at the “9th E-Daily Culture Awards” in recognition of their contributions to pioneering a new genre and broadening the horizons of the performing arts scene.
The members revealed that it took them a long time to release their first full-length album because they were deeply preoccupied with defining their musical identity.
Yeon Tae-hee said, “Every time we tried to define ‘Joseon Pop’ specifically, we felt that the range of music we could create actually narrowed. We also wrestled a great deal with whether we should continue to be defined by the keyword ‘tradition.’”
These repeated deliberations led to a more flexible perspective on Joseon Pop. Kim Tae-ju explained, “We concluded that any music capable of resonating with the emotions of Koreans and evoking empathy could be categorized as Joseon Pop, regardless of genre.”
Having established this new direction, Seodo Band has included a total of 12 tracks on this album, all centered around the narrative of the pansori piece *Chunhyangga*. By rearranging songs they’ve been working on since their debut and adding new tracks, they’ve created an album that brings their musical journey together as a whole. The full album will be released on the 14th.

Through songs that bring key scenes from the “Chunhyangga” narrative to life with a sensuous pop sound, the band portrays the lives of Chunhyang and Lee Mong-ryong like a drama. By incorporating “Aniri”—the narrative passages in pansori where the singer weaves the story without musical interludes—they have crafted an album that can be enjoyed like a theatrical production.
Seodo emphasized, “The keyword that runs through the album is ‘cyclicality,’” adding, “We wanted to tell the story of life’s trajectory—where there is neither eternal joy nor eternal sorrow—by unraveling the repetitive cycle of meeting, parting, and reuniting.”
The album features two title tracks: “Until When” and “Me and You.” “Until When” is a song crafted from imagination, filling in a passage missing from the traditional Pansori piece “Chunhyangga.” It explores Chunhyang’s longing and resentment toward Lee Mong-ryong, who has left for Hanyang.
Kim Seong-hyun, who came up with the idea for the song, laughed and said, “It started from a slightly unconventional perspective—that Chunhyang probably wasn’t just wallowing in despair and shedding tears all the time,” before adding, “I imagined that while waiting for Lee Mong-ryong for such a long time, she might have felt not only sadness but also resentment and frustration.”
“Me and You” is a song centered on the theme of offering comfort to someone you’ve finally reunited with after a long time apart. It was placed as the final track to serve as the album’s closing piece.
Jeong Hyun-bin explained, “It was born out of an impromptu jam session when I felt the album was missing something to really drive home its message.” He elaborated, “I structured the song by jumbling the guitar melodies in the latter half so that they loop back to the beginning, creating a sense that the album is cycling through itself.”
Seodo Band will hold a solo concert on the 16th at the Concert Hall of Yonsei University’s Centennial Memorial Hall, where they will perform their new song live.