A song that uses every second of 5:30: Parc Jae Jung's '계절의 끝' ('Epilogue')

Five minutes and thirty seconds. It's a long time for a song these days, and this one uses every bit of it to climb one more step at the end. Today's NONOL PICK is '계절의 끝' ('Epilogue'), the title track of Parc Jae Jung's EP '기록 (上)' ('Records (A-Side)'), released on September 29.

According to the album notes Parc Jae Jung wrote, this is a song that was only played for the audience at the mini concert '대화'. It holds lyrics and a melody from the military-service years, written even before '지금 이대로만', and it became the title track because fans chose it. For Parc Jae Jung, the end of the four seasons is winter.

There are two places to listen for. At 3:40 in the music video, as the song takes a short breath, the whole track moves up a semitone, from D major to E-flat major: on a piano, the distance of one key over. After that, around 4:40, the voice reaches the highest note of the song.

Then 4:51. The drums and bass drop out at once, and the voice carries on alone until 5:11 over much quieter keys and strings. After climbing all the way, it sets everything down, so the 'end' in the title becomes something you can hear.

On the first album's '나의 겨울', Parc Jae Jung wrote about hiding 'cold sighs' behind the night again; this time the line is that it feels like only yesterday the cold sighs were said to be piling up in the sky. The same winter carries across the years. The EP has five songs, including '미련', a song from a senior in a university ensemble class, released as audio 11 years later, and '준비', with instruments recorded in Tokyo by Japanese producer Keiichi Tomita. Parc Jae Jung asked listeners to play the album as loud as they can. Apple Music