Jaurim (자우림) are one of South Korea’s premiere rock bands, and Ruby Sapphire Diamond is the seventh addition to their studio canon. After a month on heavy rotation, the vibrant sparkle that captured my attention on the very first spin has not dulled in the slightest… and here’s why.
If I could sum up this 13 track album in one word, it would be “diverse”. All the songs find root in the great tree of Rock, but each grows and blossoms along a different branch. No two consecutive songs sound alike, nor could you easily pick any two songs from the album in general that could be paired in such a way. It’s an impressive feat. From the sleazy blues meander of oh, honey! to the Western-twang of 幸福한 王子 (Happy Prince) to the sweet ballad something good, Ruby Sapphire Diamond reveals itself as a true, effortless chameleon of rock. And that’s just the first three songs.
The album’s principal track, carnival amour, sits squarely at the mid-way mark and is clearly, above all others, the song written to define the album’s musical statement. The dreamy twinkle of the opening harps quickly give way to the festive bombast of a carnival big band: it’s all shimmering horns, tinkling piano, comic orchestration and a truly entertaining performance by the band’s vocal ringmaster. Jaurim want us to lose ourselves in their fantasy; a patchwork-world of delightful diversions, colourful sideshows and kooky personas… and it’s a hard invitation to turn down.
carnival amour
Much can be said about the variety of such multi-(sub)-genre albums, but the success of those that manage to pull it off is also a real testament to the musicians that craft them. Jaurim have been around since 1997 and have never changed their line-up, and it shows – this the fruit of seasoned musicians and the audible chemistry between them is watertight. Special mention must go to the band’s lead vocalist 김윤아 (Kim Yoon-Ah), who switches between her arsenal of rock growls, soft jazz croons, ethereal whispers and everything in between with such effortless grace that sometimes you really do wonder if it’s the same singer behind the mic (except on the slow, eerie poor tom when it’s clearly a man singing). To hear a singer capable of such varied expression across the genres is always a treat.
When Ruby Sapphire Diamond winds down with the solemn slow-burner blue marble, it becomes clear that you’ve just listened to a very talented bunch of people with a keen love and respect for rock in all its many shapes and forms. This is my first experience with Jaurim so I can’t provide much in the way of relative comparisons to previous work, but needless to say I am more than encouraged to do so now after hearing this. Musically, the formulas may be familiar – anyone who has spent any time at all treading the many well-worn paths of Western-style rock shouldn’t expect any real avant garde surprises here – but a redefinition of the genre is clearly something they weren’t setting out to do, and considering the saturation of the Korean and wider Asian music markets with endless streams of generic Western-style hip-hop clones and overly dramatic balladeers, I’d take an old-fashioned, beautifully crafted rock gem like Ruby Sapphire Diamond over the less-than-inspiring alternative any day.
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Tracklist
Ruby Sapphire Diamond
Mnet Media Corp., 09/06/08
01 . oh, honey!
02 . 幸福한 王子 (Happy Prince)
03 . something good
04 . drops
05 . 20세기 소년소녀 (20th Century Boys and Girls)
06 . 반딧불 (Firefly)
07 . carnival amour
08 . love rock’n roll
09 . 27
10 . 옛날 (Old Days)
11 . the DEVIL
12 . poor tom
13 . blue marble
Band
김윤아 (Kim Yoon-Ah) – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
이선규 (Lee Sun-Kyu) – Guitar, Vocals
구태훈 (Goo Tae-Hoon) – Drums, Percussion
김진만 (Kim Jin-Man) – Bass, Guitar
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