If you’ve recently listened to Okkyung Lee’s just like any other day, take a minute to collect yourself and reset expectations before diving into the South Korean cellist’s new record. While Lee’s 2025 collection of charming and bright-eyed, keyboard-focused ambient miniatures wouldn’t feel out of place in pastoral passages of a JRPG soundtrack, Signals, a commission by London’s Explore Ensemble, is stark, grave, and sharply abstract from first note to last.
The first sounds we hear, in fact, on the opener ‘Siwan’ (named for pianist Siwan Rhys) are the echoes of a resounding yet dangerously unstable piano stab. The sonic shape feels at once awfully close and impossibly distant, as if we were peering into the instrument’s guts…
Tag Archive: Okkyung Lee
Renowned for her formidable and boundary-pushing cello improvisations, including free jazz, improvised noise and experimental electronics, South Korean artist Okkyung Lee is taking a surprising turn with her new album, Just Like Any Other Day (어느날): Background Music for Your Mundane Activities. The album marks a significant departure for the composer as she sets aside her cello for the first time to explore the realms of ambient and minimalist music. The lead single, the charmingly titled “good morning, harrison, it’s time to go,” offers a first glimpse into this new, intentionally understated sound world.
For over two decades, Lee has been a towering figure in experimental music, renowned for her creative rigour and emotive depth.