Sunny Hill - Darling of all Hearts, and why I love this group...

Ok, I said this wasn't going to be a music journalism blog and I stand by that. But I just came across something pretty exciting....

Sunny Hill are back! Or at least 4/5 of them are. Janghyun is on military service and I do miss his presence in the band. However, for their new album and the singles from it, they are being accompanied by Hareem, a South Korean folk artist. I really admire them for that, as it's a pretty unusual move in k-pop. But then, unusual moves is part of why I really love this group. The song that brought them to my attention, The Grasshopper Song was a narrative piece, respinning the story of the ant and the grasshopper.



Having a k-pop song with a strong narrative, and one that doesn't revolve around finding or losing love is pretty unusual in itself, and not many musicians take their inspiration from rehashing fables. The song also dealt with the issue of over-working, and promoted the notion that having a better work-life balance might make you better off, emotionally if not financially. Overwork is a pretty pressing issue in Korea but is still not necessarily something you'd expect people to deal with in a pop song. And it was damn catchy. And had Janghyun in.

Their new single, in collaboration with Hareem, is called 'Darling of all Hearts.' I'm not sure how strongly the folk-vibe comes through in this song; there is a strong focus on it in the introduction, and you can hear the instruments (a dreihler and a penny whistle) coming more to the foreground during various sections of the song. However, the whole song has a very strong 1960s feel and the folk instruments have been used to create and compliment this rather than making a folky sounding song. This isn't a complaint, as the song is really enjoyable, it's just that I look forward to hearing more of the album and seeing the different ways in which they incorporate folk elements. This is a really catchy number and the vintage theme is well-executed, across the sound of the song, the styling of the band, the sets and the graphics used.



Sunny Hill are one of those bands whose new work I really look forward to and, thus far, they've never let me down.