Busan Int’l Rock Festival flies to Cosmo’s Midnight bedroom

Cosmo’s Midnight / Courtesy Cosmo’s Midnight

By Jon Dunbar

Australian electronic music duo Cosmo midnight returns to Korea for another tour, but this time as an online performance broadcast for the Busan International Rock Festival. Despite several visits before the pandemic, this time the group enjoys additional fame, following a collaboration last year with top K-pop group BTS.

“This performance is going to be very special,” Patrick Liney, band member, told the Korea Times. “We were able to make it even more unique and dynamic just for this show.”

Characterized by a smooth, gushing groove punctuated by vibraslap and wooden blocks, Cosmo’s Midnight has its origins in a remix of Patrick Cosmo’s twin brother made late at night and titled “Cosmo’s Midnight mix”.

“From that point on (the name) stuck because it felt natural and the rest is history,” Patrick told the Korea Times.

“I don’t know why Cosmo got the cool and interesting name,” he added. “At first I was going to be called Cyprien (which means ‘from Cyprus’), but they ended up calling me something much more normal. Probably to balance Cosmo’s restlessness.”

Cosmo’s Midnight / Courtesy Cosmo’s Midnight

The band started in 2012 but officially debuted in 2017, releasing their first full album “What Comes Next” in 2018 and a follow-up album “Yesteryear” in 2020. In August of that year, the brothers released the single “Titanic. ”

They got a serious bargain last year after producing and co-writing a BTS song, “Fly to My Room.” According to an article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, their Spotify account gained an additional 40,000 monthly users through the collaboration.

The song addresses the frustrations of the pandemic and travel restrictions, with lyrics written by BTS members RM, Suga and J-Hope. The Liney brothers co-wrote the demo for the song with producer Joe Femi Griffith and corresponded frequently with the Korean idol group throughout its production.

Patrick contributed to a concept that resulted in the memorable lyrics, “Broken is beautiful”, when he brought up the concept of “kintsugi”, a Japanese concept of highlighting or emphasizing imperfections.

“The idea of ​​the kintsugi was floating in my head that day for some reason. Maybe it was because my father accidentally broke pottery I made in college and was looking for ways to The idea of ​​recognizing beauty by fixing something broken, and highlighting its history and its flaws rather than hiding it really resonated with me, ”said Patrick.

“In Jimin’s verse, he sings about how Lockdown has renewed appreciation for the little things. I think they’ve incorporated that little concept perfectly into their lyrics about lockdown anxiety in 2020.”

Patrick said he was dealing with the pandemic by focusing on writing and staying creative, including doing ceramics and freehand painting while exploring the new music he discovered. “It’s always difficult to stay motivated without recharging your batteries by being outside, so we take musical breaks to avoid burnout,” he added.

“Unfortunately, live performances are banned until Australia hits a high vaccination rate. The good news is that at the rate we are going, things should be opening up very soon!”

So when the Busan International Rock Festival invited Cosmo’s Midnight to participate, Patrick and Cosmo were ready and willing.

“Unfortunately, international travel is virtually impossible at this time, so the best thing to do was to participate virtually. We would certainly always prefer to come and visit, especially since Busan is a city that we have wanted to explore for a long time now!” said Patrick.

“We really want to go to Busan the next time we visit Korea, but I still feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface of what Seoul has to offer.”

Cosmo’s Midnight has performed twice at Itaewon Soap Hall, as well as at Hongdae V-Hall and Hangang Breezeway in Nanji Hangang Park with artist EDM Flume.

“We had always dreamed of playing in Korea, but we had to wait until it made sense to shoot there,” said Patrick. “Seoul’s club scene is quite famous among our peers, especially places like Soap and Cakeshop which have attracted so many amazing performers over the years. The food, bars, cafe and nightlife have it all. hooked up, but when we were in Seoul for a week playing with Flume, we had more time to sink our teeth into and travel all over Seoul and find more esoteric places. Do more !”

Cosmo’s Midnight / Courtesy Cosmo’s Midnight

Meanwhile, the Busan International Rock Festival, after taking time off last year, returns this year with a hybrid online and offline event. This weekend, the festival features live performances at Samnak Ecological Park by seven national bands, including legendary punk band Crying Nut and local Busan heroes Say Sue Me, as well as six prerecorded live clips from six bands located at once here and in various places around the world. In addition to Cosmo’s Midnight, other foreign groups participate in Texan dream-pop group Cigarettes After Sex and American indie rock group Hippo Campus, both of which also toured Korea before the pandemic.

Visit fb.com/busanrockfest Where busanrockfestival.com for more details on the festival, and visit cosmosminuit.com to taste the band’s music.