In the middle of my first listen of So Sorry, I found myself wondering: how have I never heard of Joy o’clock before?
For the first minute and a half of So Sorry’s runtime, it’s a fairly milquetoast piano-accompanied ballad, the kind that you might hear around episode 12 of a mediocre K-drama. Then: the assured, bass tones of a cello nearly imperceptibly drift into your eardrums, and the whole thing elevates itself.
Joy o’clock is a singer-songwriter duo group formed by Dason and Yonghyun. They officially debuted in 2013 with Confusion, and both members have pretty impressive resumés—including chorus lines for various big-name artists, guest performances at concerts, and house vocals for SNL Korea (yes, that’s a thing).
They recently returned from a two-year hiatus in late 2018 with I Wish I Was Dead, another beautiful, melodic track in line with their previous work. So Sorry is their latest, and their first 2019 release. If their upcoming slate is anything like these, I’ll be waiting with bated breath.