Name: cotoba
Members: Dafne (guitar/producer), DyoN Joo (vocal/guitar), Hyerim (bass), Minsuh (drums)
Nationality: South Korean
Current release: cotoba's Humanoid operational EP is out via 4pricot.
Recommendations: Dafne: toe <the book about my idle plot on a vague anxiety> & Yuval Harari: Sapiens
DyoN: Go where these paintings exist and see them with your own eyes. - Salvador Dali <Couple aux têtes pleines de nuages> & Michelanfgelo’s work at Cappella Sistina.
Hyerim: Bill Evans & Jim Hall: Undercurrent; Mark Guiliana: Beat Music
Minsuh: Please listen to Amazarashi with lyrics on. Check out any 2 albums that catch your attention.

[Read our Mark Guiliana interview]

If you enjoyed this cotoba interview and would like to keep up to date the band and their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, bandcamp, and twitter.

Cotoba participated in a previous version of the series. Read our earlier 15 Questions with cotoba interview.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Dafne: I usually open my eyes, imagining the scenery.
DyoN: I see certain landscapes or scenery. Even though I am opening my eyes while listening to it.
Hyerim: Opening my eyes but not watching something, just feeling the rhythm.
Minsuh: I love to listen with my eyes closed. I enjoy blocking the visual and focus more on auditory senses.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

Dafne: When I was in my early 20s, there was a band called “Ellegarden”. I worshipped them so much, which even made me start to play the guitar. Their music inspired me to become a stage musician, and trained me while copying the music. So yes they trained me a lot to become a musician.



Hyerim: At 15, I became interested in the acoustic guitar and taught myself. Then I wanted to join an ensemble to play together with other instruments, so enrolled in a music academy. At 18, I went to a university where I could learn specialized knowledge about music, and also had several experiences there. Once you do anything, your experience grows. As I acquire related knowledge, my perspective on music becomes a little wider, and I feel like I can interpret it from my own view. So yes it helped me to become an artist.
Minsuh: It was a club activity in the university. I believe the experience helped me being an artist because I could get experience such as playing in a concert, practicing, dealing with people.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

Dafne: Actually, I had literally zero interest in music at that age. I started to listen to rock music after 20 years old, quite late.
DyoN: I totally agree with the study because I am making similar music I listened to in that age haha. I was a big fan of early Kpop and rock with beautiful melodies with sensitive lyrics, which is exactly what cotoba is doing right now.
Hyerim: When I was that age, rock music was what I relied on. Teenage me was quite introvert and had too many thoughts in my head, same as now. Maybe listening to that music was my mental breakthrough. I was able to change after 20, like becoming more straightforward about what I do.
Minsuh: It was the time I began to fall for rock music. I dreamed of being a rockstar.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

Dafne: I take the forms of music I like and apply them to making my own music. Wanting to make my own music is motivation in itself.
DyoN: I want to reach out to people who have the same thoughts and feelings as me. I can express myself through songwriting, and becoming a renowned musician makes it easier to find people who need me.
Hyerim: Basically, I play what I want to play. In the past, I was influenced by the playing of my favorite bassist (ex. Kameda seiji (Tokyojihen)), but these days, the playing of other members motivates me.
Minsuh: Having fun while playing and making something people can relate to and enjoy. My motivation comes from our fans who give me love and cheers. It makes me very emotional.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

Dafne: I discovered it and processed it the way I wanted.
DyoN: To me, it is not discovering nor creating. It’s always been there, and all I did was excavate, dust it off, and then place it in the right place.
Hyerim: Discovered. Because thousands of songs were there for a long long time, and my music must be influenced by those grand oceans.
Minsuh: I believe it's more like discovery, because nowadays people have already done everything they can do with music. The idea I come with is influenced by something I love. So I can’t argue that my ideas are created by myself from scratch.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

Dafne: My guitar playing aims for a sound that harmonizes with other instruments in the band while standing out with a unique personality. So I agree with what Paul said, but want to add a little more “guitar touch” to our music.
DyoN: I do agree, especially with today’s times. Because there is music everywhere as a background atmosphere - in cafes, gyms, drugstores and so on - so the impression of sound itself is getting more important than each element. So I am trying to match lyrics and melody in a way to create an atmosphere even if people do not understand Korean. Of course that does not mean I write lyrics focusing only on sound haha.
Hyerim: As a bassist, I’ve been pursuing the goal of “supporting other instruments so that they can stand out better”. I think it was a good performance if I feel like it all comes together well. Couldn’t this have something connected with what Paul Simon said?
Minsuh: Sound always matters. Sometimes it's much more important than the lyrics or chords. As a drummer, I always focus on the mood I create more than rhythm itself.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

DyoN: There was only the sound of waves crashing against the cliffs and me when I visited Okinawa. All I could hear was that overwhelming sound that filled my ears. It made my heart beat, made me emotional with the volume and waveform, which is why we can call it “music”.
Minsh: Once I watched a youtube video which was like one guy making music out of the water dropping sounds from his bathroom and it was awesome. I was kind of shocked how everything near us can be a source of music and beauty.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

Dafne: It's hard to define, but I tend to be enthusiastic about delicate, powerful, and loud music.
DyoN: I love repeating phrases on guitar or piano, but the other instruments or rhythm should be constantly changing. It will give you a breathtaking experience when it works right. Try to listen to “toe - good bye”, that is the bible of this concept.
Hyerim: In classical music, I feel an absolute sense of stability, as if it will last regardless of the flow of time. In metal music, I become highly sensitive to every, each sound.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

DyoN: I love the moment when the melody of the song comes up in my mind as “meant to be” thing. While playing the instrumental parts without singing, the vocal melody just resonates in my head and flows out of mouth. Those things happened when making “coii” and “Love&Art”, “melon”, “reyn”.



Minsuh: When I first played the drums on the song “Isolation” (which was recently released as part of the album “Humanoid operational”) I literally had no idea what to play on the last part. Only thing I wanted to do was build the sound magnificently so I tried to burst out the emotions in myself through drums. It took me a long while to do so.

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

Dafne: I do it all the time with jam sessions or arranging with the DAW program.
DyoN: As a vocalist, yes. I do some biological experiments on myself with singing with higher notes or hard pronunciation. HAHAHAHAHA.
Hyerim: Making music is always an experiment, I think. Because musical theory is based on scientific things.
Minsuh: I think both. Some ideas come with just simple inspiration so I should try some experiments with them. Sometimes I calculate a lot with rhythms, numbers, and interactions and find the optimal drum playing.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Dafne: I usually write music alone, but to complete it, collaboration with members is unavoidable. Cooperation with others is essential to live a good life, just like this.
Hyerim: I think making music and working in everyday life are identical. For example, the method of coordinating opinions with people while making music applies in the same way to everyday life. I feel like I get to know better how to be more harmonious.
Minsuh: The similar point of making music and living life is that both can’t be done by myself. Both need somebody else beside me. That was hard to concede for me.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

DyoN: Actually I don’t think making a cup of coffee is ‘mundane’, and every work people do is special in their own way, especially if its goal is “make other people happy - in a good & ethical way” and the worker is putting their heart into it. So I feel a piece of music is inherently the same as something like making a great cup of coffee. At the same time, I know what you mean in this question, so I would like to answer in this way. “Hearing” is known as an alarm system that operates 24/7. The time it takes for nerve cells to sense sound is also 50ms, which is the fastest in comparison to other senses. Also, we know empirically that sound is sensitively associated with the most primitive emotions, such as surprise and fear. This nature of sound partially explains why music touches our emotions very deeply, sensitively, immediately.
We are trying to explain ourselves and affect people’s feelings through this aspect of sound, which cannot be done with other sensory organs or only texts.
Minsuh: In my opinion, every creation is similar, especially when you aim for the goal.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

Dafne: toe - Good Bye



DyoN: cocco - Fuuka Fuso. I vaguely know what makes me so emotional, but still can’t explain why this far.



Hyerim: Bill Evans & Jim Hall - Dream Gypsy



Minsuh: I like to analyze the music and the effects I get, so I don’t have any.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

DyoN: For myself, I want to be more free in singing. For the entire music industry, I hope that music files include the whole copyright. Like, if you listen and download a song anywhere, you can easily know who wrote the song, who arranged and played the instruments without additional effort. Because, for now, I have to google that information and even get no results. I think this makes it harder to protect the copyrights or associated rights. The easier it is to be aware of this information, the easier it is to protect those rights.
Minsuh: I want to express myself more in music and see how people relate to it.