Korean Rock Recall: Raise Your Fist In The Air For Hologram Film's Thrill-A-Minute 2014 Track 'Return' [VIDEO]

Sometimes, subtlety is best left to novelists. In pop music, sometimes the broadest gestures are the most effective.

On their 2014 track "Return," electronic rock band Hologram Film pile on an excess of musical attacks like so many wrestling moves--and it more than works.

The stylish quartet formed in 2011. After a series of EPs and digital singles, they released "Return" on their debut full-length album, "Into the Wild," in April of last year.

"Return" opens with a brief squiggle on a synthesizer that is quickly brushed aside to make room for a riff that, if rendered in a physical form, could only be transported by flatbed truck. The band delivers said riff in a devastating unison; the slightest hint of syncopation gives it just the right amount of unpredictability so as to demonstrate some brains in addition to the band's brawn.

By the one-minute mark of "Return," the choppy waters of hyper-compressed guitar have parted to make room for some crooning on the chorus from lead singer Yun Jin Hwang.

This vocal melody, supported by some winsome tapping on a keyboard, is a stark contrast from the song's raucous verse, but both elements are similar in their efforts to be as immediately engaging as possible. And although the pivot from savage to tender is somewhat whiplash-inducing, it's also clever.

Clearly, Hologram Film is trying to cast a wide net.

The next verse brings you back to the affably boneheaded riff and before you know it we've returned to the brooding chorus. Each section is so short, it's over before you've made up your mind if you like it or not. And if you didn't like either of those parts, you're in luck, because the song's bridge introduces another shift.

This time, Hologram Film brings us to a house music thump, making for yet more satisfying dumb-but-great crowd-pleasing. The band crash lands right into the EDM-style climax of the bridge with a stomping disco beat and a burly guitar solo that is engineered for maximum impact. Before you know it, we're given one more lash of the whip-like synth motif that opened the song and like that, it's over.

While the entire song is meant to be the musical equivalent of a popcorn-popping action movie, it can't be said that Hologram Film didn't put attention into every single detail. It's just that the nuance in "Return" is lurking underneath the surface.

For the audience, it's nothing but thrills.

Watch the music video for the Hologram Film song "Return" RIGHT HERE

 

Jeff Tobias is a composer, writer and multi-instrumentalist currently living in Brooklyn, New York. As of late, he has been researching arcane systems of tuning and working on his jump shot.  

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Hologram Film
return
Into the Wild
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Korean Rock Recall
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