The last time I listened to Faulocity was the 2015 EP, Fuzzy Nation. At the time, I didn’t know that Faulocity was a solo project by Hyun Jin-sik. Over the years, Faulocity released more music along with two full-lengths, various singles, and EPs. 2022’s Falling brought in vocalist Eun-hae to make the band a duo.
The first EP highlighted the post rock and shoegaze genre, but Falling changes things. The album is more of an exploration of the rock music genre. It explores a lot of different musical themes and doesn’t stick to one tone and theme. “James Webb” serves as the album’s introduction, a slow and drifting track that introduces Eun-hae’s warm and mellow vocals.
“Endless Dance” harnesses electronic tones and counters “James Webb” quickly. The track follows a similar melodic line, but there’s a positivity that grows through each verse. The slightly raised tempo draws you into this world that Faulocity is creating. Moving forward, “Dark Spiral” is a bit of a callback to the shoegaze era of the band. The slow tempo combined with sustained melodies doesn’t dismiss Faulocity’s origins. “Dark Spiral” also includes a marimba which helps lift the otherwise heavy tone.
“Dark Spiral” is one of my favorite tracks on Falling, but “Gravity” hits the high point. It’s kind of a straightforward melodic rock track with repetitive guitar riffs and verses that are constantly working towards a crescendo. Compared to other songs on Falling, “Gravity” might be the most simplistic, but it captures and spotlights Faulocity perfectly.
“My Faded Moon” is another electronic and rock hybrid and a bit of a palate cleanser. And while “Endless Dance” is one of the singles, “Latency” is the song that I think most people should start with. I do wonder why Eun-hae’s vocals are always behind an effect, but she’s still able to shine with her voice.
Faulocity, again, go back to the shoegaze and post rock world on “Breath.” It’s a simple song at the start that comes in like the tide. The song builds over time and the bridge is the song’s explosion before returning back to something simple. The final track, “Rock is Dead,” is like a tongue-in-cheek joke. The song starts with blues rock and an off-beat drum rhythm. It grabs all the genre standard composition elements and slowly moves through different related genres in a full instrumental. Essentially the song is saying that rock is only dead if you want it to be.
Falling is a diverse album with Faulocity grabbing and jumping to different genres. And while that could have resulted in an album that basically felt disconnected, there’s careful composition to bring signature elements on every track. Coming back to Faulocity and this new chapter sounds like the band can go anywhere in the rock genre it wants.
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Chris P
Korean Indie owner and Editor at Large. Constantly looking for new music and working on library parity on Spotify and YouTube Music.