Kim Ye Rim (Lim Kim) - SIMPLE MIND

Tracklisting:

1. Awoo
2. Love Game/Knowing It Hurts
3. Wind (Feat Beenzino)
4. Say It First
5. No More
6. Upgrader
7. Paper Bird



Lim Kim proves she has anything but a 'Simple Mind' with the release of her third mini-album. One half of the folk pop duo Togeworl ("Two Months"), she brings her unique singing voice to this new disc. Since Togeworl's debut, Lim Kim has emerged as a capable solo singer with a full LP and two mini-albums to her credit.

"Awoo" is a somewhat experimental song. An understated bass line with overdubbed fragments of her up and down-pitched variations of her voice serve as the main melody. Amusingly named after the noise she makes in the chorus, the song is actually addressed to two different people: 1) the girl she's out with, who might be interested in her man, and 2) the guy she's interested in. The song kind of degrades a bit when she focuses on the guy and is flirting with him, mainly because we hear this a lot in kpop. The song's still fun, and the chorus is still hooky: "I'll flirt with you/You'll get hooked on me." The imagery in the lyrics is vivid, talking about foxes and wolves and shaking her tail. I kept thinking of a cat the whole time.



The lead single is "Love Game," which uses the rhythmic hand-clapping we heard in the preview. The clapping is the only thing we hear initially as she sings practically a capella. We don't have long to wait as the song fills out more with horns and a funky keyboard melody. Like the first track, her voice overshadows the rest of the instrumentation and does so to great effect.

"Wind" is a cute song that chugs along and plays to the strengths of both Lim Kim and Beenzino. He sings and raps on the track, and it ends up being a duo, a cute ditty.



The album loses its way with a couple of tracks, "Say It First" and "Paper Bird." While more traditionally folksy tracks, they're little more than meandering ballads that add little to the album. There's very little feeling conveyed here, and it almost feels like she's just going through the motions on these songs.

A lively song about a breakup, "No More" is characterized by some almost retro vibes. There are breaks in the song that make good use of her breathy voice.



"Upgrader" is probably one of the more straightforward pop mixes on the disc, which really sounds a lot like 80's western pop. That may be the intent, her pronunciation of the word "Up-guh-rayder" notwithstanding. It adds more life to it since it's the main part of the chorus. I like the chorus, too; overdubs and some echo effects give it an ethereal feel.

Barring a couple clunkers, this is a peppy and enjoyable album. It's got a nice energy to it and, at times, I was reminded of HA:TFELT's avant garde solo. It's not quite a successful melding of folk and pop, if that was their intent. It's got some definite, different sounds on it, not too dissimilar from mainstream pop, but different enough to keep it fresh and full of its own unique charm.

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