Twenty-Six Seconds Without a Single Face, and the Second Album Lands Tomorrow at Six

In three lines

• The Volunteers posted a 26-second 'RBF' music video teaser just now, at 7:01 p.m.
• Their second studio album [i love u] arrives tomorrow, 14 September, at 6 p.m. Twelve tracks, with the title track "RBF" at number ten.
• It has been five years, three months and eighteen days since the first album.

The Numbers First

Item	Detail
Album	2nd studio album [i love u]
Release	14 September, 6 p.m. KST
Tracks	12 · title track "RBF", number ten
Previous album	[The Volunteers], 27 May 2021 (10 tracks)
Gap	5 years, 3 months, 18 days
Current line-up	Baek Yerin (vocals, guitar) · Jonny (guitar, leader) · Kim Chi-heon (drums)
Teaser	25.97 seconds · 4:3 aspect ratio

The rollout came in four stages: an 11-second trailer on 27 August, a 15-second tracklist on 1 September, a 32-second album teaser on 3 September, and today's 26-second music video teaser.

That's the last of the numbers. Now, the music.

The Sound Holds Alone for 2.6 Seconds

We pulled the teaser audio and measured it.

At 0.06 seconds a single guitar note enters with no warning. It's a distorted single note with overtones stacked neatly above 175Hz, and below 80Hz there is nothing at all. No bass, no kick. There is effectively no difference between left and right either — it is mono, nailed to the centre.

At 0.71 seconds it stops dead, and silence runs to 0.95. At 1.18 the same note lands again, and at 1.37 it cuts short once more. From 1.50 it drops an octave and holds around 99Hz. The first two and a half seconds are one guitar switching itself on and off.

Then at 2.60 seconds the low end arrives whole. Content below 80Hz leaps from 2% to 77% and the level jumps 20dB at once. The bass enters on 49Hz and moves to 65Hz around the six-second mark.

The Screen Stays Black Until 2.633 Seconds

This is the heart of the teaser. The video is pure black until 2.633 seconds. The first image — a pair of legs in high heels — appears at the exact moment the low end enters. The gap between sound and picture is 0.03 seconds.

The sound holds alone for 2.6 seconds, then breaks open together with the image. That is not an interval you hit by accident.

There are only six cuts in 26 seconds: legs at 2.63, a drum kit at 7.77, an arm at 12.13, hands on a guitar at 15.50, the whole guitar at 19.50, and the title card at 22.67. Each shot holds for close to four seconds on average.

And not one face appears. The song is called 'RBF' and it shows you no face at all.

Some People Already Heard These Songs Live

A few of the tracks turned up over the summer. Audience records from the first day of the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival on 31 July list 'White Truck', 'Cool Kids Always Late', 'Our Life Is A Constant Western Film' and 'Broken Wedding' as unreleased songs. They also played new material at DMZ Peace Train.

Tomorrow at six, all twelve arrive. Tonight, playing these 26 seconds on repeat is fine. It's only 26 seconds.