heart, soul, and summer

Gsoul performing live (shot on Lapse)

Where did my heart go?

By that I mean — my love for music, which I’ve spent the last few years nurturing and enjoying immensely, has dimmed. It’s been a while since I’ve felt myself reaching for a new sound. Things feel routine now. I don’t know where the love went, so the questions spinning around in my head are: where did my heart even go, and how do I get it back?

I’m mandating a side-quest for myself this summer to reignite my love, and write about the journey.

In the meantime, I think my search starts with GSoul.

GSoul (or G.Soul) is a South-Korean singer-songwriter who’s non-stage name is Kim Ji-hyun. He also had a brief fling with the alias ‘Golden’ (because of Jill Scott, for goodness sake) but we don’t talk about that.

I saw him live after a friend asked if I’d be interested in going to a concert with her. I confessed I had no idea who he was. She confessed she was sure I would love it. And about 24 hours later I was vibing in the intimate stage he played in DC on a Tuesday night.

I’ve only been to a handful of small shows, and none since about 2015. GSoul was a far cry from the packed-arena Burna Boy show I went to in March, and an even further cry from the TXT stadium stop in California last year.

But size really isn’t everything, because the show was fantastic. I wasn’t a KR&B fan beforehand by any means — the extent of my Korean consumerism pretty much starts and ends with k-pop and some k-dramas. But GSoul really moved me. I don’t know exactly why. Maybe it was the venue, or the debut of my new concert ear plugs, or the company of a new friend I felt connected to, or a combination of all these things plus some good damn music — no matter the case, I felt a thrum of equilibrium in my body that I hadn’t felt in a while. And that feeling, a lovely mix of comfortable peace within melodies and humble gratitude for the person who I went with, is what draws me to live music.

I learned just this year that not everyone experiences goosebumps when they hear good music. If you’re one of the unlucky ones who has never had this feeling, my heart goes out to you. I know I love a song when it gives me a fierce set of chills on a hot day; my body recognizes the beauty first, and my heart and mind follow happily.

Standing in the mood lighting of GSoul’s set, the buzzing bass of expertly produced tracks uniting everyone in that space, I’m certain I experienced love at first listen.

My Standouts:

Window Pane (Pretty Little Thing)

Hate Everything

Broken Record