Leesang’s 8th album scheduled to drop May 15th has an ‘Unplugged’ concept, and it is already drawing attention ahead of it’s release for a few different reasons.
First, it is the group’s first album to drop in a year since ‘AsuRa BalBalTa‘ which received an explosive response from fans last year.
Second, Leessang has actually been working on this album for the past three years. This 8th album was produced to commemorate their 10th anniversary of being in the music industry, and production began back in June of 2009. They held multiple auditions to hire the most talented and experienced musicians to create their own band, ‘Leessang Traveling Theater‘. The band has consistently worked together over a long period of time to produce just the groove and sound they were looking for.
Third, Leessang has decided to eliminate all electronic instruments for this new album, and therefore their new project is full of completely analog sounds created by musicians personally playing the traditional instruments. The hip hop duo devoted all of their time and effort on this new album. Leessang reportedly did not hold back on renting out a recording studio for several months, and obtained different instruments from all over the world in order to raise the quality of their vintage sound and their album as a whole. During the completion stages, they even went overseas a few times to perfectly finish their album.
In a generation where digital albums are rampant and artists are eager to release ephemeral singles, Leessang’s efforts seem almost foolishy bold. Mini-albums are universal in this market, but Leessang has stubbornly chosen to release only formal, full-length albums and have proven their status as genuine singer/songwriters.
“The reasons are simple,” they said. “Music has been a dream of ours since we were poor, and this is our way of giving back to the fans who showed us endless love and support, and an investment towards our next goals and dreams. Even we are not sure as to what kinds of sides of ourselves we will continue to show you in the future, but one thing is for sure. As long as we are still able to do music, we will not stop trying.”
Meanwhile, Leessang, who will be pre-releasing the first song from their full-length 8th album on May 18th, is currently busy rehearsing for ‘Leessang Theater 2′ scheduled to launch July 14th and 15th. In preparation for this nationwide tour, the members have recruited famous performance producers into their Leessang Company.
