Cifika's third studio album, Bonfire, a heartfelt dive into connection and acceptance, dropped on November 19th!
Cifika is an artist from Seoul who’s got a knack for both sound and visuals. Her groundbreaking work as an artist, musician, and producer was recognized back in 2018 when she snagged the Best Dance & Electronic Song award at the 15th Korea Popular Music Awards. Growing up in the U.S. helped her easily switch between Korean and English in her lyrics, and her music goes beyond borders, showing off her versatility as a multi-talented artist on both local and global stages. CIFIKA thrives in the space between pop and avant-garde, in a way that any musician would admire. Her ambient vocal experiments were featured in the Men’s Fall-Winter 2021 Louis Vuitton campaign and runway show (with House Ambassadors BTS). Boiler Room picked her for a conceptual video series with Maison Valentino. She’s scored a robot/human dance piece for the Korean National Contemporary Dance Company and was invited to create and score an installation for ISM Berlin’s Hexadome project (alongside Thom Yorke, Brian Eno, Suzanne Ciani, and Holly Herndon), showing she’s as at home with highbrow art as she is in the club. CIFIKA has collaborated with a wide range of artists from ambient/IDM to UK garage, hip-hop, and R&B, including Lusine (Ghostly International), Romy from the XX, Girl Ultra, Flava D, Hyukoh, Crush, Woo Won-jae, and Dress.
Already making waves outside of Korea with performances at SXSW, ADE, Reeperbahn, and some buzz-worthy club shows, CIFIKA is ready to share her music and vision with the world. She’s always drawn inspiration from vast landscapes, spiritual ideas, and endless memories. Now, she’s turning her attention to the vastness of space and the hidden world of molecules and atoms, channeling her ideas of light, love, and emotion into her most resilient work yet.
After being nominated for Best Electronic Album at the 2024 Korean Popular Music Awards for her second album “ION,” released in 2023, and winning Best Electronic Song for the track “Hush,” Cifika has poured her musical thoughts and communication from the past year into this album. She’s drawn inspiration from various genres to step beyond her previous electronic music category and take listeners on a captivating journey with a richer, warmer sound.
With 11 tracks in total, the album mixes elements of electronic music, alternative folk, ambient, pop, and more. It features upcoming producers like Nancy Boy, who’s worked with artists such as BTS's RM, Qim Isle, and Seori, and Umaka, a guitarist, producer, and singer-songwriter, who helped Cifika finalize her musical vision, enhancing the album's depth and resonance.
The album kicks off with "View," designed to showcase a pure voice and set the stage for the next track. “If I Could Be” shines with a vocal harmonizer during the electric guitar solo, adding a unique touch. The song keeps the raw, unpolished vibe of the demo, capturing the essence of the guitar and vocals. Through the lyrics, CIFIKA symbolically reassures listeners that their potential remains intact.
The core track of the album is "Little Drama," inspired by the imagery of “The Little Drummer Boy,” featuring tribal-like drums and guitar riffs. When Nancyboy and Umaka joined for arrangement, they added a one-chord riff structure often seen in metal and rock, creating a sequential progression. Umaka recorded a powerful, raw guitar performance, imagining a “warrior” image, while Nancyboy added psychedelic synth textures reminiscent of their early influences.
The fourth track, "Hand in Hand," was crafted as a minimalist piece with a repetitive loop. CIFIKA drew lyrical inspiration from the 1988 Korean Olympic anthem “Hand in Hand,” contrasting the unity of that time with today’s skeptical society. The fifth track, "Babes in the Wood," revisits the familiar sound of "Little Drama" with a drum loop covered by a jam—also created by Nancyboy and developed into a track centered on themes of an “eroded digital world.” CIFIKA’s lyrics tell the story of outcasts seeking refuge in the woods, away from digital media and biases. The title comes from the American folk tale “Babes in the Wood.”
Built on an arpeggio pattern Nancyboy created at 19, the sixth track, "Selena," highlights CIFIKA’s dreamlike qualities. The track combines real and electronic drums, with a later section featuring live-recorded guitar effects. Through the lyrics, the protagonist loses themselves under Selena’s (meaning “The Moon” in Greek) influence, depicting a blend of attraction and confusion. This carefully leads into the seventh track, "Bonfire." An alternative folk song driven by drum machines, with a top-line that embodies a dystopian protagonist. Featuring actual friends of CIFIKA’s voices in the chorus, “Bonfire” symbolizes resilience against life’s trials, with a determination to keep moving forward, much like the image of tribes gathering around a fire.
Falling in love is such an emotional rush, and the eighth track, "Brush," captures that feeling perfectly. It uses the gentle act of brushing hair as a metaphor to explore love and vulnerability. Nancyboy blends soft vocals with expertly crafted synth sounds. The ninth track, "Pebble," is a fresh take on Umaka’s earlier song “Rolling Pebble.” This collaboration creates a cozy, chatty vibe by keeping the natural guitar sounds. Nancyboy and Umaka use guitar trills and strings to give it a dreamy feel, diving into themes of time, healing, and moving forward despite differences.
The tenth track, "Heart Piece Collector," is a dream-pop tune with shoegaze vibes. It features a vocal narration in the latter half that sounds like an AI voice, which fits right into CIFIKA’s electronic style. Her operatic vocals are inspired by the barcarolle in Act III of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. In the song, CIFIKA becomes a “Heart Piece Collector,” picking up pieces of broken hearts. The track takes you through lost memories and emotions that have sunk deep, symbolizing people holding onto unsent love letters and unhealed feelings. Wrapping up the album is the last track, "Totem." It's inspired by Hermann Hesse’s idea in Demian that "fate and emotion are just two sides of the same coin." This outro, "Totem," gently brings you back from dreamland, offering a calm contrast to the album's opener, "View," which kicked off the dream adventure.
“PS: If you wish to dream again, return to View.”
Speaking to what it means to find connection and authenticity in today's world, “Bonfire” offers comfort, inspiration, and true connection, creating a unique and personal listening experience for people gathered around a campfire, away from the rigid hierarchies of the concrete jungle.
Comentarios