[Sports Seoul | Reporter Ham Sang-beom] Balming Tiger, the genre-bending K-pop collective, has quietly set the stage for its second full-length album with a pre-release single that foregrounds the group’s distinct aesthetic.
On the 28th at noon, Balming Tiger released the first pre-release single, "Jibeuro" ("Home"), offering a glimpse of the direction for their forthcoming studio album, Gongbu (Korean for "study").
"Jibeuro" blends psychedelic textures and retro band instrumentation with emotional currents common across East Asia. Key contributors bj wnjn, sogumm, Mudd the student, Leesuho and San Yawn each bring an experimental lens to the familiar idea of home, reshaping it into something oddly intimate and new.
The single carries extra weight as the opening key to the larger world Balming Tiger plans to reveal with Gongbu, due May 19. For the project, the group has imagined a fictional research lab called Gongbu Korea, where experimental techniques are used to record human dreams and the unconscious — a conceptual hook that drives both the music and its storytelling.
The band’s visual choices reinforce that concept. The album cover features the former main building of Jeju National University, designed by the late modernist architect Kim Chung-up. By resurrecting the now-demolished structure as the Gongbu Korea institute, Balming Tiger ties modern Korean history to an invented narrative.
The accompanying music video takes a darkly comic approach inspired by the traditional wedding custom known as hamjin-abi. Members Jan' Qui and San Yawn co-directed, crafting a sensory portrait of test subject sogumm’s dream and visually centering the album’s core motif: dreams.
With a singular blend of sound and imagery, Balming Tiger has opened the door to their second album. Gongbu will be released in full on May 19, after which the group will begin a full slate of promotional activities. intellybeast@sportsseoul.com
