Album cover of the solo studio album ‘Gli’ by Jo Hyun. Courtesy of Jo Hyun

Handpan player Jo Hyun has returned after five years.

Jo Hyun released the second solo studio album ‘Gli’ (Gli) on the 9th. It has been five years since the first studio album ‘Sense’ in 2021 introduced the unfamiliar instrument called the handpan to domestic listeners. Whereas the previous work captured natural scenery and memories of travel, this album is a nine-track set that, from a confessional perspective, portrays birth and the passage of time.

Apart from two featured tracks, Jo Hyun performed most of the playing personally. The approach combines the percussive qualities of the handpan with melody, weaving rhythm and tune simultaneously. In ‘Biga’, the saxophone of Kim Oki, and in ‘Deotbit’, the bowing of cellist Lee Geum-hee, blend with the handpan to express, respectively, sorrow and light that layers upon itself. The track considered the most personal on the album, ‘Dream of Gli’, contains baby babbling and breathing sounds.

A showcase performance to commemorate the album release will be held on the 11th at the cultural space Sanctuary in Seongsan-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. It will feature performances of every track along with discussion of the album production process.

Through the management company, Jo Hyun said they had established Digivibe, the first dedicated handpan education institute in Korea, and are active as an educator and musician. They are also a member of the electronic world music team ‘Animal Divers’.