7/10

There's something especially thrilling about hearing an artist leave behind the language they are best known for and step fully into another world entirely. And on the original soundtrack for 'Hana Korea', former Mew frontman Jonas Bjerre exchanges much of the expansive indie-rock character of his past for a more restrained, atmospheric approach built around drones, texture and emotional space.

Created as the original score for Frederik Sølberg’s Korean-Danish film of the same name, 'Hana Korea' follows a North Korean girl attempting to navigate exile in South Korea. It's a sense of displacement that sits at the heart of the record. Across fifteen tracks, the artist builds a soundscape that feels warm and melodic in places, but constantly shadowed by isolation, uncertainty and longing.

The result is often strikingly minimal. Instead of relying on conventional song structures, much of the album unfolds through subtle shifts in tone and atmosphere, allowing small melodic details to carry significant emotional weight. It's something that works particularly well within the context of a film score, where the music needs to support the story at its heart.

Lead single and closer ‘Hike To The Sun’ stands out as one of the album’s most immediate moments. Featuring Yeohee Kim, the track introduces a more vocal-led dimension to the record and brings a sense of fragile beauty to the otherwise largely instrumental landscape. Her performance gives the piece a human centre, while Bjerre’s production surrounds it with an almost weightless atmosphere.

Elsewhere, ‘Girl’s Night’ pushes in a different direction entirely, introducing a more hyperpop-inspired edge and showing that the soundtrack isn't confined to one emotional register.

With his newest material, Jonas Bjerre demonstrates that his strongest instincts have always extended far beyond traditional indie-rock. Delicate, cinematic and quietly affecting, the album is an expansion of his creative vocabulary, revealing another compelling side to an artist long associated with atmosphere and emotional depth.