Jambinai

Friday 4th October 2019
Gulbenkian Theatre, UKC, Canterbury

I'd seen some stuff around the UKC campus about "Korea Day", presumably organised by the student Korean Society. When I saw reference to a live band, I derisively assumed it would be some tacky K-Pop. How wrong I was! Fortunately, I checked them out in advance and found this:

Concluding that they were Korea's answer to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, I quickly sent out word to various local friends who might appreciate them. In the end, the Gulb theatre was 1/3 full, but the band seemed incredibly appreciative and humbled that anyone had come out to see them. Rather like Godspeed's use of chamber strings, Jambinai use a variety of Korean folk instruments (the haegeum, a bowed one-string thing; the geomungo, like a kind of giant bass koto; the piri and taepyeongso, reed-based winds). Great washes of electric noise, extreme dynamics, minimal vocals, thunderous bass, epic finale, no encore...