A whisky pub instead of a playground: five songs by the band HWA, from '밤' (Night) to 'London Blue'

In their opening greeting, HWA introduced themselves as a 'hybrid rock band' of three: Tori on guitar, Yang Hyeon-mo on drums and Lim Soon Young on vocals. Lim Soon Young appeared on Mnet's 'Superstar K5' in 2013, and according to the video description, Yang Hyeon-mo is the drummer of Bulnabang Star Sausage Club and Tori is the guitarist of Wiretap In My Ear. The 44th stage of NONOL LIVE wasn't a playground at all, but Yancey Club in Mapo-gu, Seoul. It's a pub where you can enjoy whisky and a music club stocked with gear, and Lim Soon Young called it 'our playground'. Times follow the full version of the video.

1:09 밤 (Night)

The June single that marked the start of HWA. According to the album introduction on Bugs, Tori wrote it in 2019 with no plans to release it, and it's the song that convinced Lim Soon Young to form the band. Tori and Tiger Lee are both credited for the lyrics and music (Bugs). The chorus comes around three times, and only in the second one, at 3:35, does '사라지는 연기처럼' ("like vanishing smoke") become '사라지는 담배 연기처럼' ("like vanishing cigarette smoke").

4:34 때로는 (Sometimes)

HWA sang it as a song to be released with NONOL. The idea is that even if we all seem to live inside the same routine, there's a dream in there that we'll show, beautifully, one day. The first verse opens at 4:59 with '항상 같은 기분으로 눈을 뜨곤 해' ("I always wake up in the same mood"), and at 5:52 the second verse answers with '매일 다른 시간에 일어나고는 해' ("I wake up at a different time every day"). The '커다란 의미' ("a great meaning") at 5:25 turns into '커다란 반전' ("a big twist") at 6:08. The lyrics and music are by Tori, and the arrangement by HWA (Bugs). It came out 197 days after the video was posted, on June 20, 2024, as 'NONOL VOL 40', and its English title on Apple Music is 'Sometimes'. Apple Music

7:39 남산 (Namsan)

A song by Tiger Lee of In My Pocket, a band Tori played in. Yes, the same Tiger Lee credited on '밤'. Lim Soon Young said it was too precious a song to keep to oneself, so the band wanted to share it here, and added that although Tiger Lee no longer makes music, the hope is to share a stage together someday. The original is Tiger Lee's single 'Namsan (feat. Tori)', released on February 20, 2021, with Tori on guitar and bass (Bugs). From 10:14, the singing rests for 26 seconds while Tori's guitar rings out at its loudest in the song. Then on September 21, 2026, a new Tiger Lee single, 'Procyon', appeared on Bugs, and its guitar and arrangement credits read 'ToRi of In My Pocket'.

12:44 늘 바라봐도 (Even When I Look At You All The Time), originally by Jo Deok-bae

Lim Soon Young said the band wanted to sing a song by an artist they had always admired, and picked one by Jo Deok-bae, respectfully calling the singer 'seonsaengnim' (teacher) for so many gem-like songs. The Bugs album introduction says the band laid HWA's own colors over the bossa nova feel of the original. Bossa nova is music from Brazil with a gently swaying rhythm. This song was also included on 'NONOL VOL 40' as a 'NONOL Live Ver.'

17:30 London Blue

Introduced as the band's next single. It holds the feeling of the moments when you're so lonely it seems you've been left all alone in the world, and the band said it had been arranged a little differently from the planned release, as a NONOL LIVE version. The first verse is sung by Tori, the one playing guitar. From 17:59, '찬 바람과 낯선 시차 그리고 나' ("the cold wind, the unfamiliar time difference, and me"), through the whole first verse, Lim Soon Young sits at the mic with lips closed, and the drums rest too. The drums only come in properly at 19:40, 2 minutes 10 seconds into the song, and at 19:42 Lim Soon Young takes the second verse with the same lyrics. The song isn't in HWA's catalog on Bugs or Apple Music yet.

The stage right before HWA's was Jeong young ji's, featured on October 10, at the playground in Jangan Children's Park in Bundang, and the next, by irda, featured on September 23, was at Seonyudo Park.