Four Seconds of Silence, Then 36dB in a Tenth of a Second

A new song has arrived at the playground today. This time it's Kim Nana.

Kim Nana is a singer-songwriter. The artist's own introduction: "I love warm, cosy feelings, and those good feelings have soaked into the songs I treasure, so I hope every time you listen you get that sense of — oh, this is what warmth is."

It was filmed at Seoul Children's Grand Park, on a day the cherry blossoms were out.

Four Seconds of Nothing At All

Before the first song, 'Pastel', there is a completely quiet stretch. From 0:45.75 to 0:49.50 — four seconds. The opening talk ends and there is nothing.

Then sound enters at 0:49.65. The level goes from −76.2dB to −40.5dB, and a tenth of a second later to −20.6dB. Thirty-six decibels in 0.1 seconds.

What makes it good is the four seconds before it. Without that emptiness it would just read as a song starting; with it, it lands like a hit. It's an abrupt way to open a cosy song.

The voice comes in around 1:02. Before that it's accompaniment alone — measure the median pitch and 50–62 seconds sits at 114Hz while 62–80 seconds jumps to 237Hz. The low one is the backing, the high one the singing. The backing is alone for about twelve seconds before the voice arrives on top.

All Four Songs Are Here

Song	Starts at
Opening	0:00
Pastel	0:47
Spring	4:45
Close (감아)	8:37
Feather (깃털)	12:21

The notes written for each song are lovely.

'Pastel' is "a song comparing to pastels the affection and preciousness I felt in a relationship with someone I love, and sometimes the dislike and the anxiety too."

'Close' is "a song written from the point of view of the one who left, rather than those left behind."

'Feather' came from the drama 'Moving': "I tried to put into song the feelings I could sense from the main character Bong-seok's point of view."

When to Listen

Outside, on a bright day. The video was shot under cherry blossom so the picture stays light the whole way through, and that brightness matches the sound.

If 16 minutes 18 feels long, take the first song's four minutes. But keep the volume up from 0:45 to 0:50 — the fact that nothing happens for four seconds is the most important part of this video.