Korean-American singer-songwriter Yaeji released her debut full-length album, With a Hammer, a few weeks ago, and soon she arrives in DC for a show at 9:30 Club on Friday, May 5.
With A Hammer was composed across a two-year period in New York, Seoul, and London, during the lockdowns of the Coronavirus pandemic. It is a diaristic ode to self-exploration; the feeling of confronting one’s own emotions, and the transformation that is possible when we’re brave enough to do so.
In this case, Yaeji examines her relationship to anger. It is a departure from her previous work, blending elements of trip-hop and rock with her familiar house-influenced style, and dealing with darker, more self-reflective lyrical themes, both in English and Korean.
Watch the official music video for “Passed Me By” by Yaeji on YouTube:
Yaeji’s music is an invitation into an intimate, healing, world exploring cultural identity and self-reflection through dreamlike house productions that morph from whispery confessionals to dancefloor burners. Born in Queens, New York City, to South Korean parents, Yaeji repatriated to Seoul shortly after, where she spent her formative years attending school, learning Korean and English side-by-side. Yaeji returned to America to study fine arts, east asian studies, and communication design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Throughout her studies, Yaeji made a home for herself at the college radio station, where she was introduced to the local underground electronic music community and seminal club nights like Hot Mass, all formative experiences leading to her fascination with dance music production. With her fully-fledged music obsession in tow, Yaeji moved back to her birth city after graduation and began cultivating her own community of artists and DJs in Brooklyn’s local dance scene while recording music of her own.
Yaeji’s first musical offering, her self-titled Yaeji EP, found the producer merging her club influences with songwriting and hazy raps flitting between Korean and English. Yaeji followed up her debut with EP2, featuring singles “Drink I’m Sippin On” and “Raingurl.
Yaeji
W/ Jessy Lanza
9:30 Club
Friday, May 5
Doors @ 8pm
$30
All ages