Jihae
Musical nomad finds stability in the bustle of New York City
By Melissa Bobbitt
Published: April 1st, 2007 | 11:44am
Diplomacy and music are much alike: both can transcend language, culture and geography to bring a message of hope and dignity to a busy, brash world.
Jihae Kim is a testament to these similarities. Her new album, My Heart is an Elephant (Septem Records), available only through digital outlets such as iTunes, is a soundtrack for solace from a populous but lonely world. The shimmering and sultry release weaves together Nico's lush longing with Fiona Apple's ferocity and self-awareness.
As the daughter of a South Korean diplomat and a trained opera singer-piano teacher, the hauntingly seductive singer/songwriter traversed the world in her youth. From Nigeria to Sweden to London and ultimately the United States, a sense of adventure and empathy developed within Jihae, but alongside that, a sense of alienation loomed.
"By the time I went to high school, I had been to ten different schools, different languages. I didn't like it at all," she says with a nostalgic laugh. "All this adapting to new cultures and learning a new language and making new friends--that's a lot of work! So I adapted and I think it made me adaptable to anything."
Her malleability shines on My Heart is an Elephant, a project that was a long time coming, Jihae admits. After years of flirting with different careers (modeling, law, and even exploring following in her father's footsteps into diplomacy) and some much-needed soul-searching, she found her voice in the cacophony of New York City, her main haunt for the last nine years.
"I went through a few band projects. I went through the biggest heartbreak of my life. Then I think the band I was in broke up at the same time. This was 2 years ago. I felt like the only thing left in my life that I could hold on to was my music," she says. "I took a good two, three months off visiting every family member to the next. Then when I came back to New York, all of a sudden I was smart enough to take advantage of what New York offers--amazing art. I love contemporary art: exhibitions and galleries. Read a ton of books, listened to new music. I took in what I needed. Soon thereafter it was like a waterfall of ideas."
The project came into fruition with the help of some of Jihae's high-profile friends. With producers Brent Arnold (Modest Mouse, Sleater-Kinney) and Patrick McCarthy (REM, U2) at the helm, and Lenny Kravitz and film director/drummer Michel Gondry offering their musical chops, Elephant isn't your average singer-songwriter fare. It's more of an "everything but the kitchen sink" collection. Literally.
"I heard that [Michel] was a drummer, so I asked him if he could play percussion on the record. And he said sure... so we recorded from my apartment. I wasn't having him over a few times; I wanted him to be the mad scientist that he is. I had one snare in the apartment and I went around looking for other percussion elements of the house, such as kitchen ware, little silver bowls, a kazoo, drumsticks, just a whole lot of stuff. So I said, 'Here's the stuff, do whatever you want with it.'"
Creative freedom is something that Jihae says she thrives off of, which is why she went strictly digital and independent for this current album. Solid copies may surface in the future but for now the artist is intent on keeping her integrity full intact.
"I didn't want someone telling me how to express my soul, to doll me up into a product that sells. If you're spilling your guts out and you have to gloss it, it's kind of an oxymoron, you know?" she says. ";Also, the music industry is going crazy. [Record labels are] folding left and right. It's such a huge risk to go with someone who'll take 80 percent from you and there's no guarantee they'll release you. To me, it's more risky to do that than start slow."
Good things come to those who wait. And the time has come for Jihae's unique talent to shine.
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