Edith - Interview
Pynewood Press (PP) released The Massage of Erasure (TMOE) by Shmuel Barber on 6 December. In the lead-up to the release, PP wanted to accompany its social media campaign with music that reflected the atmosphere and emotional landscape of each story.
This is when we invited Korean musician and London resident Edith to curate a selection of tracks that embodied the book’s complex themes and narratives.
To learn more about her creative process, and what inspired her selections for TMOE, PP’s Editorial team sat down with Edith for a conversation.
PP: What inspired the tracks for The Massage of Erasure, and how did you put them together?
Edith: For this collaboration with the author (Shmuel Barber), I explored the world of the ‘unconscious,’ delving into the undefinable nature of the human mind and deconstructing it through existential questions. When I usually create sound, I often try to work with imagination and visualisations.
Although the six stories each tell different narratives, I felt as if their messages were connected as one. Reading them was incredibly fascinating and engaging; the idea of searching for a pearl within a polluted, muddy inner world, constantly questioning the self, probing the boundaries between consciousness and unconsciousness. Questions like: is the world I live in real? Am I the ‘real’ me in that world, or is the ‘real’ me the one in a dream? Then, what is ‘real’ and what is ‘fake’?
I wanted to depict this strangeness, this abnormal, illogical, and deformed form through sound, while maintaining a common foggy and dusty texture, like a faded album trapped in a specific era. Translating that sensorial memory into sound was a challenge I eagerly took on.
PP: Are you going to release the tracks?
Edith: Yes. The album will be released on Bandcamp as six short tracks corresponding to the six chapters. Beyond that, I hope to produce a physical CD and connect the release to a performance or more immersive presentation.
PP: We’ve heard you’re preparing to release a new single and a full-length album in early 2026. What themes or ideas are guiding this next chapter of your work?
Edith: The theme is 유언 Last Will, which will be my first full-length album, set to release early next year. Both the title track and the central theme of the album originate from Yun Dong-ju’s poem Last Will. The poem quietly expresses personal pain and familial sorrow through the story of a father approaching death.
PP: Much of your work focuses on giving voice to marginalised or overlooked perspectives. How do you translate those themes into sound and performance?
Edith: The core theme behind my work as Edith has always been this very idea. The lyrics I write are often drawn from the poetry of Yun Dong-ju (1917–1945), whose words reveal the anguish of a late Joseon-era (roughly 18th-early 20th century) poet silenced by his time […] and [the] pain of [...] Japanese occupation.
What fascinates me is how deeply these sentiments mirror the loneliness, isolation, and quiet despair felt by people today, [...] these states often surface in my music through synthesiser solos, abrasive noise textures, distortion, or heavily saturated sonic energy. Sound becomes a way to articulate those inner ruptures, the feelings we carry but cannot easily express.
“I wanted to depict this strangeness, this abnormal, illogical, and deformed form through sound, while maintaining a common foggy and dusty texture, like a faded album trapped in a specific era. ”
PP: As you’ve just mentioned, your work reinterprets the poetry of Yun Dong-ju through progressive rock and electronic sound. What first inspired you to bring his poetry into a contemporary musical language?
Edith: Back in 2016, I participated in the Yun Dong-ju Creative Music Festival in Jongno, Seoul, with a friend who sang, performing a piece I had composed. At first, it was simply out of curiosity - I wanted to see what kind of music could emerge from his poetry. With the song Sansang, we ended up winning the grand prize. That experience was the first time I truly became fascinated with creating music from poetry.
PP: How do you construct your compositions?
Edith: In my usual process, I follow certain rules, structures, and systems. But working with poetry disrupted all of that. My focus shifted entirely to conveying the language and emotional undercurrents of the poem, which made creating the sound incredibly fun.
Instead of adhering to conventional pop structures [...] I could follow the story and emotional trajectory within the poem, guiding the listener into unpredictable atmospheres. In this way, I was able to experiment with new forms.
PP: Lastly, you often blend traditional Korean rhythms like chilchae and yukchae with electronic textures. What draws you to combining these contrasting worlds?
Edith: I believe the unique character of traditional Korean music emerges from its rhythmic system - jangdan - which operates under a completely different logic from Western metre. For example, it uses odd-numbered cycles or even a 36-beat cycle defined as a single unit.
In contrast, electronic music follows a steady metric structure, with each genre marked by its signature sounds. What interests me is blending these contrasting rhythmic systems, rooting the music in the improvisational and irregular qualities of Korean rhythmic traditions, while interpreting those ideas through the sound world of electronic music.
‘What would happen if those playful elements were reimagined through electronic textures?’ That curiosity led to experiments that eventually developed into the music I create today.
PP: Thank you very much for your time. We’re thrilled to have worked with you and look forward to future collaborations.
PP is committed to collaborating with local musicians and artists. If you’d like to be involved in our upcoming projects or events, get in touch.
