[mixtape liner notes] stero, a particular story of reincarnations.

First up: stero. listen to it here.

1. Stero | 투명 (TwoMyung)
2. 백야 (White Night) | Nell
3. 잔혹한 여행 (Cruel Voyage) original song by Han Hee Jung | Casker
4. 세상이 끝나려고 해 (The World is about to End) | eAeon
5. History of Love | Trampauline
6. Fantasy | Ironic Hue
7. 소나기 (Sonagi) | 몽니 (Monni)
8. 꿈 (somewhere we belong) | googolplex
9. 우리는 어쩌면, 만약에 (we, perhaps, if) feat. Yoonsang | Toy
10. 그 사내 (That Man) | 정차식 (Jung Cha Sik)
11. 여기서 그대를 부르네 (Calling You From Here) | Lucid Fall
12. 잊는다 (Forgetting) | 망각화 (Manggakwha)
13. 너무 아픈 사랑은 사랑이 아니었음을 (A Love Too Painful Could Not Have Been Love) | 김광석 (Kim Kwang Suk)
14. 향 (비의 연상에서) (Scent - Reminiscent of Rain) | 잠 (Zzam)





This mixtape was largely inspired by two friends of mine (Avery and Jenny) who thought using moonassi's art as album covers for mixtapes about reincarnations was a great idea. It was, and I decided to join the party with one of my own. (You can check out their mixes here and here.)

Reincarnation is a very fascinating trope and something that makes me really sad. And when I'm sad I make mixtapes. This time, I wanted to tell a story of a love carried on through reincarnations (can you tell that I was very much influenced by this story about reincarnations?); two people find themselves falling in love over and over again through time, through different lifetimes. But this mix is dedicated to all the lifetimes where they aren't happy. Lifetimes where they don't fall in love. Lifetimes where they don't even meet each other. Lifetimes where they are too late.


First track: TwoMyung's "Stero". Stero means "they stood still" in Latin. I thought that was so perfect for this mix, because it goes so well with the cover art I chose, and also since this mix tells the story of the lifetimes where they stood still, not able to do anything about each other. I also love the song, it's a perfectly eerie prelude to a generally sad series of songs.

Second track: Nell's "White Night". Basically you can't have a Korean mixtape about reincarnations without Nell's "White Night". 

in this endless time, in all of this space / it's filled with your thickly colored breaths

And ultimately:

I can't get over you / you just keep shining on and on through my time 

Perfect song to really start this off. I feel like this song is really about reincarnations whereas the other songs may not explicitly be about reincarnations.

Third track: Casker's remediation of Han Hee Jung's "Cruel Voyage". Han Hee Jung's original song is beautiful too, but I thought Casker's glitchy and extra-gloomy cover was more fitting with the flow of this mix.

then, what made me move and speak / I just wanted to share everything with you 

you, oh you, like a voyage, you left me on a shining day / love, oh love, a cruel voyage, my one last trip  

something we shared made us part ways / I just wanted to share everything with you 

The song speaks of something unknown that made their love impossible, despite the character's desires to fulfill this love. Also I love the metaphor of a voyage incorporated into the song - because these two are stuck in this never-ending, almost cruel voyage through time. She vouches that this will be the last time this will happen. Next time, they will get it right.

Fourth track: eAeon's "The World is about to End". He sings of the world coming to an end and his last thoughts as it unfolds before his eyes. ("the world is about to end / without knowing whose fault it is / the world is about to end") The character's sorry that they didn't get to know everything about themselves ("I'm sorry I didn't get to know everything about us").  And this line in particular - "어쩌면 우리 모두 다시 만나겠지" which translates to:

perhaps we will all meet again

Fifth track: Trampauline's "History of Love". This song is more upbeat compared to the others. And fully in English. I haven't ever listened to this song much, but the title grabbed my attention while I was going through my library searching for songs. "History of Love" sounded like a perfect alternative title to this mix, as it is a history of two people in love. And then I paid more attention to the lyrics and I realized that this song had to be on the mix:

angels above can't declare / as I sit here and stare / at flames going away inside of me / you see I can't compare / the feelings in between / to the one that once blew my mind away 

like in a boxing ring, no way out / you said go, I said yeah / it's a foreign language we're talking about / you don't say no, so I linger linger linger / still dance to it anyway / can't stop dancing to it anyway / could it be history of love

I thought this song was good with continuing the story from the previous song - the world came to an end, and in the afterlife, they meet briefly before their next lifetimes start. "You said go, I said yeah". "you don't say no, so I linger". And without fully understanding what's going on, they "still dance to it anyway" while they have the time. I think they both briefly have the idea of what this is ("could it be history of love?"), but before too long, they are sent on their separate paths.

Sixth track: Ironic Hue "Fantasy". Another lifetime. And one half of the bond is beginning to realize, or perhaps remember?

your absolute movements I can feel with the tip of my fingers / draw me in / in the slow-moving crowd / your fragile and faint gaze 

Perhaps she remembers the touch, resonated through multiple lifetimes.

adding onto me / adding onto you 

the truth at the top of the tower of illusions / unable to fill despite trying / realizing that thing is you 

Trying to fill in the gaps, she searches for the "the truth at the top of the tower of illusions" and tries to fill in the gaps. And in the end she realizes that she is seeking out the other. But the missing pieces are too big, she is unable to paint the full picture. Another lifetime where they don't meet each other at all.

Seventh track: Monni's "Sonagi". Sonagi is a type of rain that doesn't really have an equivalent word in English. (Think a sudden shower, it's that kind of a rain). This is the life where he finds the other a bit too late.

where are you now / laughing somewhere in the heavens 

Eight track. googolplex's "Dream (somewhere we belong)". I actually couldn't find lyrics to this song and the vocals are too distorted to really understand what the lyrics are saying. But I thought the the title of the song fit well with the theme. That somewhere they belong. Also I really like the sound of this song.

Ninth track: Toy's "We, Perhaps, If" featuring Yoonsang. This song is mainly about two lovers who have broken up, but the opening lyrics to this song are so apt I just had to include it in this mix:

we might have missed each other at the same time without knowing 

we might have walked past each other on the same street without realizing  

Tenth track: Jung Cha Sik with "That Man". This song is one of the most heartbreaking songs I know. The way he sings it, and the poetic lyrics. Everything is just so sad. This song is for the lifetime where he remembers, very clearly, but cannot do anything about these memories or the person he is doomed to love. He cannot tell anyone about these memories that haunt him constantly, and he tries to drown them in himself, trying to force himself to forget.

what others may easily forget / I still remember

 songs of the past / excuses of the past / drinks of the past / bodies of the past / remembering them, I turn red 

it's all a wind of the past 

Eleventh track: Lucid Fall's "Calling You from Here". I'll just suggest to check the entire lyrics to the song, which I've translated ages ago and posted here. This is the more hopeful lifetime. It's that lifetime they spend seeking out each other. They haven't met yet, but this might be the life where they will meet eventually.

early morning comes closer / and tells me of your news.

that from far away / you are also calling out my name. 

Twelfth track: Manggakwha's "Forgetting". After multiple happy lifetimes, they're back to another life spent longing for each other but unable to find each other. This song is about him dreaming over and over again about the other person and becoming tired of dreaming about them. And the dreams stop. And he forgets.

I entrust it to my memories / I couldn't stop the time from flowing / fading feelings and the regrets / your hand I hold onto, your memories I hold onto, now / forget, forget, I forget 

Thirteenth track: Kim Kwang Suk's "A Love Too Painful Could Not Have Been Love". This is one of my favourite songs of all time. Such heartfelt lyrics - even just the title gets me feeling really melancholy. Putting this song into this particular context (most of the song is about a past love), the last verse is what convinced me to include this song as the last track (with lyrics) in this mix:

now let's never come to this world for love / let's bury words of longing, an unfulfilled love / because a love too painful could not have been love

This is where they make the promise to "never come to this world for love". They both realize how painful it is to come back over and over again just to long for each other. Because yes, a love that is too painful could not have been real love.

I like to end my mix with instrumental tracks, so the last track of this mix is Zzam's "Scent (reminiscent of rain)". It has that creepy vibe similar to the opening track of the mix. Which may or may not suggest at how the cycle will repeat all over again, despite the promise made in the last song/lifetime ("let's never come to this world for love...")