If you feel like Dean or Rad Museum’s release schedules are too slow, allow me to introduce their labelmate Miso. Her newest single “Alone” comes four years after her debut single, “Take Me,” was released. The MV for “Take Me” currently has over 20 million plays on YouTube, hinting at just how appealing her sound is. Perhaps it is the ethos of independent label you.will.knovv that requires its artists to take ages to release new music. Even its name implies something coming off in the future, you will know, someday.
The excitement surrounding Miso can also be attributed to her features on offonoff’s debut album Boy., Crush‘s EP Interlude, 2xxx!‘s debut EP Life and Rad Museum’s debut mini-album Scene. Three of the four features came in 2017 (her feature on Crush’s EP being the exception), perhaps indicating a joint release schedule that occurs within you.will.knovv. It is more likely though that this group of artists (Dean, Miso, Rad Museum, Tabber, Dae Hee and 2xxx!) have little interest in when their music is released, just that the music released is of stunning quality.
Miso’s newest single “Alone” is definitely a quality track. Much like her younger brother Maddox, her register is gorgeous and laced with emotion, making every word ring out in clarity. “Alone” sounds like two to three different songs roped together. It starts as an ethereal R&B track with Miso delivering her opening verse almost in spoken word. The song then transitions to a piano-led bridge before its final transition into another R&B textured beat.
During you.will.knovv’s 2019 festival run, Miso performed “Alone” and one fan even went as far as to name the second half of “Alone” as “Out of Time,” reflecting how apparent the transition of sound is. The MV for “Alone” mimics these transitions in sound with matching visual shifts.
The MV starts with Miso wandering through a forest of red and grey until the track begins to transition. The MV moves through a dreamscape that brings both Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory painting to mind and Neri Oxman’s Bio-architectural structures.
When the dream-sequence ends, we find Miso alone in a deconstructed building space. This space then becomes juxtaposed by a forest now ablaze in natural colour, with glowing birds circling above. These birds likely represent a connection now formed between her dreamscape and her reality.
The season goes, you’re all alone
Nowhere to go, no one to hold
There’s something hidden in the past
Cover your eyes girl,
that’s what papa saidIt might just be an endless road
Anxiety just holds you close
But if it holds onto you tight,
Cover your eyes girl,
open your mind instead
Lyrically, Miso paints a lonely world of anxiety bookmarked by seasons as a motif for time passing. Miso seems to be talking to a younger version of herself within the first two verses. She encourages this girl to use her mind as a way of escape.
This interlude ties in nicely with the dream sequence found in the MV as it visually shows Miso escaping into her mind. Interestingly, “Alone” is written entirely in English, unlike her feature on producer 2xxx!’s “Girl, Interrupted” which had a mixture of both English and Korean.
“Alone” is split into six verses, and much like the instrumentation and MV for the track, these six verses seem broken into a three-part structure. The third and fourth verse appears to be about someone else, perhaps a lover or simply a love letter to her mind, which she uses to escape from when she feels alone.
All the things you do
Tho we’re in the blues
You know how to come through
I choose to turn to you
You, you’re everything I knew
In you I see the truth
turn rust to gold, so pure
All the things you do
The closing two verses, much like the shimmering birds painted into the MV, seem to bring a balance to the first two sections of this song. Miso speaks of finding peace within one’s mind by getting lost within the hidden worlds found inside her head. It is a gorgeous sentiment to hold, especially in this time of quarantine.
We could be floating on time
Into the peace of your mind
Before decisions collide
Stay out of time
Just take a walk in your mind
To keep the balance intact
Remember, you are alive
Stay out of time
Overall, Miso has continued her perfect run as a musician. Whether as a featuring artist on her friend’s tracks, releasing singles herself on Soundcloud, or just creating covers in her bedroom. Miso is creating music in her own way, devoid of pressure from the music industry or a fanbase awaiting her debut album.
This single much like the single that came before shows no indication of a looming more significant release, merely existing in its own space and time.
(MoMA, Neri Oxman, Soundcloud, YouTube [1][2]. Images via youwillknovv)
