Name: Hyunhye Seo
Nationality: South Korean
Occupation: Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist
Current release: Hyunhye Seo's Eel is out via Room40.

If you enjoyed this Hyunhye Seo interview and would like to find out more about her music, visit her on Instagram.

To keep reading, we recommend our two previous conversations with Hyunhye Seo's Xiu Xiu partner Jamie Stewart:

[Read our Xiu Xiu interview]
[Read our Xiu Xiu interview about sound]



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?

Music is more tactile for me. My body moves, sometimes very actively - like dancing or running - and other times in a still, quiet way, but moving still.

I don’t find myself closing my eyes to listen often. I like seeing how the eye’s perception changes when there is music.

What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?

This will sound contradictory, but bold, timid, stumbling, and brash. Going by gut a lot, just trying to figure out how to make the sounds that I am imagining, and discovering new ones in the process. Frustrated, excited, steady and pushy.

And still figuring it out, to be honest.

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

I was listening to a lot of inane pop music, making mixtapes by recording songs off of FM radio with my cassette player.

I also grew up in a very Christian family and went to church 2-3 times a week for choir and youth service, where we had a young pastor who used music as a very central part of the service. It was there that I saw how music can move, perhaps manipulate, emotions and emotional cognizance. Much of it is based on particular and oft-overused tuning, chord progressions, and timbre, but it’s an interesting concept that I’m still exploring.

I don’t think anyone would say they like to be manipulated. But we allow, even welcome, music to move us in ways that go beyond our conscious control. What are the limits, internal and external? What is moving vs. manipulative? We can even go deep into the complex socio-economic impacts of colonialism and globalization related to this issue.

All that from some overplayed radio hits and Christian pop. Scary.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?

Holy fuck I have to practice. Whatever instrument or tool I have, if I really want to be able to use them effectively, grow, expand, practice practice practice.

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

I think it’s pretty similar to everyone else. It’s a desire to create, make something that feels like a real and genuine part of you.

To move in some sort of alignment with, to make physical and tangible, whatever all that is inside of you.

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?

Since I don’t have chords and lyrics in my solo work so far, I would say this is pretty correct. The sound is the central piece – how the sound moves and transforms.

I don’t know if I want to say I have a personal sound, because I would like to think that I’m continuously trying to expand it, move past whatever limit I may have created before.

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”?

I really like silence and finding different levels of silence. They’re always so striking.

(I guess one could argue that there’s never any absolute silence unless you go into a chamber or something, but I would like to think of silence as what one person perceives as silence, rather than absolute objective silence.)

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?

I feel drawn to tension, suspension, some type of sustained holding, the sharp intake of a breath and holding it in. I think it can be created in a variety of ways – both by a well timed silence, or by complex loud noises.

But it’s not as easy as just creating constant noise or silence. There’s a sense of restraint, listening, control, and complexity in creating the right amount and level of tension and I find myself often looking for that in music.

From symphonies and traditional verse/chorus-songs to linear techno tracks and free jazz, there are myriads ways to structure a piece of music. Which approaches work best for you – and why?

I don’t think I’m skilled enough in songwriting to create layered symphonies or arias, but I like to explore as best as I can the various structures. To be honest, I don’t really think about song structures a lot when writing a piece of music, which can of course turn out to be an absolute sloppy jumble of sounds.

So I push myself to think about song structure sometimes, but other times it’s also fun to just let a song go wherever it wants to go, even if it means repeating the same line 44 times.

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?

Lately, I’ve been playing live improvisations with piano and gong, and layers the acoustic sounds with sounds mic'd from these instruments and running them through pedals. But for me to feel comfortable and free enough to really let go in improvisations, I need to feel confident about losing control, not thinking about it too much.

To do that, I first just practice a lot. I need to feel completely comfortable with how to modify that particular set of pedals to make them play nice with each other, and with the particular tone and soundworld I can create through playing. Once I feel like I have a really good range of sounds that I can produce when I want, then I also know I can keep pushing and playing with them during improvisations to find something new.

When I am completely at ease, I can let go of control and let the sounds lead and go wherever it wants.

Sometimes, science and art converge in unexpected ways. Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

Not really. I like reading about various concepts or theories and also find them inspiring, particularly with biology and anatomy and how they relate to hearing / sound / playing, but I don’t often find myself differentiating the “scientific” insight from the creative or other ones. It may just all be a matter of semantics, but just hard for me to personally think about it in separate columns like that.

But I always appreciate it when there is a real conscious effort to do so, and clear and intentional linking between sound and space and science.

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?

The way I make music is probably way too accurate a reflection of how I live my life, for better or worse. I’m comfortable with it being interconnected and feeding off of each other, but I don’t know if I can say I totally have my life or music figured out yet.

So all those lessons are still happening, thank goodness, as I still have a lot to learn.

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?

For me, yes. But probably not for others who are dedicated to and entranced by coffee. I guess it’s that age-old question of what is art, what is not art, etc.

Just as one could find expression in otherwise mundane tasks, (like pruning trees, cooking, or folding laundry), you could also argue that not all music is expressive or art. Some are just tools, a consumer product or something that helps sell a product, something to cover up silence, an alert, or even intentionally lacking in expression.

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?

Chris Watson’s El Tren Fantasma.



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

Less disposable music, and less music made to sell products or people. More true variety and experimentation in sound, structure, space, tone, everything.

We have too much stuff, including music stuff, and music as a product to purely buy and sell.