Two months on the road for Dabda, from Tokyo to Montreal

Last Thursday, September 17, Dabda released their second full-length album, 'ON(百),' and now they're packing up again. Next stop: Tokyo.

Four people, math rock

Kim Ji-ae (vocals, guitar), Park Jeong-woong (guitar), Noh Geo-hyeon (bass) and Lee Seung-hyeon (drums). Park Jeong-woong joined recently, making them four. Math rock is rock that changes time signatures often and weaves guitars tightly together.

They debuted in 2016 with the EP 'Island of Each (저마다 섬),' so this year marks their tenth anniversary, and this is their first full-length album in six years and three months, since 'But, All The Shining Things Are' in June 2020. The new album has nine songs over 44 minutes 38 seconds, including the earlier singles 'DDDD!' (September 2025), 'Dear Hope' (March 2026) and 'Choo-Choo' (August 2026). Kim Ji-ae wrote the lyrics, the members recorded it themselves in their studio, and bassist Noh Geo-hyeon mixed it.

Tour dates

These are the dates the band posted in the music video description. The four Southeast Asian stops (Jakarta, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Singapore) are already done, from August 23 to September 6. Here's what's left.

• October 6: Tokyo
• October 7: Nagoya
• October 9: Osaka
• November 5 to 22: ten cities in North America: Seattle, Portland, Berkeley, LA, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal

That's 17 dates in all, across two continents, Asia and North America. Venues and ticket sellers differ by city, so check each one on the band's official channels.

How not to get lost in 7 minutes 20 seconds

The title track runs 7 minutes 20 seconds. It can feel long the first time, so here's a map.

The bass comes in at 15 seconds, and from 20 seconds the sound is full. Then at 2:40 it sinks deep. The bass drops out, the cymbal hiss drops out, and only the middle of the sound is left: a 40-second valley. It climbs back at 3:20, and from 3:40 to 5:20 comes the loudest stretch of the song.

Right in the middle of that, for 10 seconds from 4:59, the loudness moves within just 0.76 dB. dB (decibels) is the unit of loudness, and a 1 dB difference is barely noticeable, so those 10 seconds stand like a wall. It ends at 7:15 with five seconds of silence.

Before you go

My bag's already packed. Before the show, listen to the title track all the way through at least once. Just knowing that it sinks at 2:40 and rises again at 3:20 will make that valley much easier to hear from the floor.