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Leessang's New Album Tops Music Charts

The sixth's album "Hexagonal" from the duet Leessang (comprising Gary and Gil) has topped the music charts, much to the envy of other artists who released their albums at the same time.

"Eleven of our songs have entered the top-100 chart. We learned about that from our friend Psy. He's our Internet manager because he surfs the Internet and cares a lot about us", said the duet.

Leessang's sixth album has received rave reviews, climbing up music charts for two weeks in a row. Its songs have highly addictive melodies, like those in the duet's hit songs "Ballerino" and "I'm Not Laughing", and sensible rap lyrics about the reality of life. They also feature Jangkiha & Faces and Lucid Fall.


Gil has been presenting a comical image while appearing on variety shows recently. Leessang's songs have struck a chord with listeners with their frank lyrics about realistic things. They describe subtle feelings and emotions that exist in love and breakups.

The title song "Men Who Can't Break Up, Women Who Can't Leave" describes the strained relationship of a couple who are no longer in love. The line from the song saying, "My body has erased you", shows how tormenting the traces of a physical relationship can be after a breakup.

Gary said, "When we try to express things through beautiful metaphors, they just don't sound right. I was very impressed by the poems of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda. He uses concise, rough and honest expressions, yet they don't sound cheap, and they strike a chord with your heart. So when writing songs we just say what we feel like saying rather than adorning things".

Gil said, "There is a rumor that Gary wears a skirt at home because he's really good at depicting women's feelings. Rather than writing songs about the latest trends, we write about our everyday lives, which represent the lives of ordinary people in Korea. We write about our own experiences and our own feelings".

The two members say they are able to be so free-spirited because they began from scratch and have nothing to lose. They are unwavering in the face of slumps in the music market or groundless rumors and are unfazed by what the public thinks about their songs. The most difficult part for them is creating songs.

Leessang's music is based on hip-hop but is not confined to a single genre. The song "Let's Meet Now", which features Jangkiha & Faces, is a folk song; "Dying Freedom", which features Kim ba-da, is an electronic track; "Destroyed Neighborhood", which features Lucid Fall, is a bossanova song; and "Journey", featuring Casker, blends electronic and analog music.

Gary said, "Our songs feature musicians who we like. We called Jang Ki-ha and offered to take him out for a drink. That's how we came up with the chorus line, 'Let's meet now, right now'. We enjoyed working with Jang Ki-ha".

Leessang's new album also features Gil's girlfriend, Park Jung-ah of Jewlery. Gary said, "Jeong-ah and I dated at our studio. We auditioned 80 people to find the right vocals, but Gary suggested that we try Jung-ah, because her voice sounded right. It sounded very different when she was performing our song, because as a member of Jewlery she had few chances to try new genres".

Leessang chose the title "Hexagonal" to describe the duet's stability. Recently, the duet has joined an agency that also manages Drunken Tiger and Yoon Mi-rae. The two members have been producing a new album from Chung In, who is also from their agency.

They said, "Chung In's album will be a greater hit than ours. It was created but many top musicians like Kim Dong-ryul, Yoon Jong-shin, Ha-rim, Epik High and Dynamic Duo. It represents Chung In's love for music".

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