Recently I saw the name 에니악(eniac) flit by in the music credits of some show I was watching. A YouTube search yielded this:
According to the Evans Music site, eniac is the first electronica artist signed to the label. An examination of their roster indicates they lean towards folk and jazz. Perhaps because of this, eniac makes me think a bit of The Blue Nile. The Blue Nile’s first album was released through a label established just for them by hi-fi equipment manufacturer Linn. This label, Linn Records, now specializes in classical, jazz, and Scottish music, and The Blue Nile have long departed the label.
Unlike that first The Blue Nile album, this eniac track (the title translates to “The Boy Keeps Running” or “The Boy Still Runs”) is full of youthful energy and hope – “even if my chest is about to burst, I am running towards you, dreaming of a sea for just the two of us, I run towards you …” I could find very little information about eniac, other than he had previously contributed to the soundtrack for the 2006 k-drama Soulmate. His Korean-language blog shows him to be youthful and engaging. Perhaps it’s the city and the times shaping the music? Seoul in the 2010’s and Glasgow of the 1980’s – despite the economic ups and downs Seoul remains vibrant and the center of South Korean life, and has never experienced Glasgow’s long industrial decline. eniac would be the soundtrack to running through city streets for the sheer joy of it. The Blue Nile would be the music for wondering why I did that, while nursing a drink alone.