The Music That Made Me - Kisnue

In our series, The Music That Made Me, someone will be sharing their life through the music that shaped them. This week, we talked to Song Eunsuk aka KISNUE.

One of Korean indie-pop’s brightest stars is Kisnue. His upbeat take on the indie formula draws inspiration from the likes of Phoenix and The 1975. On his most recent album, the songwriter explored more experimental sounds, playing with ambient song structures. Here, he talks to us about the music that made him who he is.

Find Kisnue on Instagram here.

First album I ever bought

Good Charlotte - The Young and The Hopeless

The first week I moved to live in California I went to a mall close by and got the album. The few years I spent in the States really left an impression on me a lot because I found so many amazing bands then. I was obsessed with Good Charlotte, Linkin Park and Jason Mraz and Maroon 5 were the up-and-coming artists that year if I remember correctly.

The song that changed my life

Linkin Park - Numb

I was a pretty timid boy keeping a lot to myself when I was young. Maybe it was just puberty at work but life felt pretty heavy around that time. Then I found Meteora by Linkin Park and all my teenage angst was answered by this amazing album with <Numb> being my favorite.

A song that reminds me of my childhood

Vitamin C - Graduation

The whole grade sang this song at my elementary school graduation. Reminds me straightaway of the early days I spent in San Diego.

The album that made me want to make music

Michelle Branch - Hotel Paper

I found this album around the time I found Linkin Park. They sounded totally different, but acoustic guitars heavily used in this album got me to start writing my own stuff because all I had was acoustic then.

I naturally listened to all Michelle Branch albums starting with Hotel Paper, and her writing really affected my first steps as a singer-songwriter.

The first song I fell in love with

Nell - 유령의 노래 (Song of a Ghost)

I can’t talk about my teenage years without talking about Nell for they’ve been a huge influence for me both as a musician and as a person. I first bought the album ‘Let It Rain’ thinking it was a heavy rock album, given that the album cover was a picture of a marionette covered in stitches and wounds. Then the first song of the album came on and it was nothing I expected but so much better than it. There were many songs I liked listening to before this, but the moment I heard this song on my parents’ car stereo is engraved in my mind.

The first gig I went to

Linkin Park Live in Seoul 2003

Loving Linkin Park so much as a kid I naturally had to go see them when they first came to Korea. Coincidentally it was the year I came back to Korea from the States, and I brought a couple close friends to see the show.

Not sure if they liked it, but it blew my mind and it made me want to be in a band for sure.

The song I want to be played at my funeral

Something I haven’t written yet

I read from St. Vincent’s interview that she described her self-titled album as ‘a party record you could play at a funeral.’

I thought that was really cool, so one of my goals as a songwriter since I’ve read that is to write my own ‘funeral song’.

A song I wish I had written

The Pillows - Last Dinosaur

There are LOTS of songs I wish I had written because I love a lot of different songs with my life, but I keep going back to this song featured in the animation <BECK> when I think about best songs ever.

First heard it in 2004, still in love with it.

One song that you have made that has significant emotional meaning.

Kisnue - Dead

I usually write stuff to vent what frustration or emotion I have, and when I wrote ‘Dead’ I was preparing for the first ever album.

Nothing was set in stone and everything seemed so vague, unsure if all my efforts were going to pay out.

I spent nights after nights in a tiny rent studio room writing songs. And one night I came home (then I lived with my parents) and opened the door,

wishing the front porch light wouldn’t turn on because it would wake the family up and I didn’t want them to come say anything or greet me.

The opening lines of this song really captures the frustration I felt that night. It’s one of my own songs that I really love.