Epex spells out growing pains of love in new album

Boy band Epex poses for picture during its press conference for its fifth EP "Prelude of Love Chapter 2. Growing Pains" held in Seoul on Wednesday.

K-pop boy band Epex on Wednesday released its new album "Prelude of Love Chapter 2. Growing Pains."

The album comes six months after the release of its fourth EP "Prelude of Love Chapter 1. Puppy Love" in October.

A few hours ahead of the album’s release on Wednesday, the eight-piece band held a press conference in Seoul.

"We've been waiting for this moment for a long time. We're happy to be back," Wish said, to which Yewang added, "All the members have honed themselves in all aspects, from the recording to dance practice. We've worked really hard."

The new album picks up the tale of love where the previous album left off and rolls out the growing pains felt by a boy experiencing his first breakup.

Just as with their previous albums, the eight members’ own stories are included in the songs through interviews with the lyricists.

"The album is about the growing pains of teenagers who face their first breakup in life. We talked with our friends about their own experiences and conveyed them to the lyricists, along with our own stories. They've all been melded into the lyrics," Yewang said. Mu added, "We hope fellow teenagers will be able to relate deeply."

Fronting the new album is "Sunshower," an upbeat pop dance anthem that compares a boy’s cute first breakup to a sun-shower -- a phenomenon in which light rain falls briefly while the sun shines.

The Korean title of the song is "Fox's Wedding Day," based on the folk tale that says the sun-shower is the tears shed by the sky, mourning the wedding of its beloved fox.

"The lyrics weren’t so easy to understand at first, but after hearing the tale, I thought that the beautiful yet sad story suited well with our song," Jeff said.

"The melody is bright but the lyrics are dark. We were worried at first about how we could portray it (the contrast). We tried our best to show these mixed feelings to listeners," Keum said.

The album includes two other songs that share the theme of first heartbreak, "My Darling" and "Goodbye My First Love." "Skyline" is a modern rock infused hip-hop score in which Epex cheers on people striving for their dreams.

Since its debut in 2021, Epex has unfolded a special story following the emotional ups and downs felt by teenagers in love. Opening the series was the debut EP "Bipolar Pt. 1: Prelude of Anxiety," followed by "Bipolar Pt. 2: Prelude of Love." Up next was the first chapter of "Prelude of Anxiety" and the first chapter of "Prelude of Love."

Breaking the alternating pattern, the band followed up with another chapter on love.

"We tried to spell out the message that, to a boy, the emotions of love and anxiety always come together," A-min said. "The order is based on that flow (of emotions), and with the two latest albums, we complete the story that the boy has begun his first love."

The bandmates noted the series will come to a close with the next album.

"We've been releasing 'Prelude of Love' and 'Prelude of Anxiety' in turn, and the next album will be the last chapter of the story," Wish hinted.

Baekseung said they've already kicked into the album’s production.

"The songs are already all out. They're all very impressive and I'm already looking forward to our next comeback,"Baekseung said.

The members also talked about their own growth pains.

"It would be bluffing to say that we don't care about the chart scores. We're just working hard in our own way with the belief that more people will discover us if we continue at our own pace," Wish said.

Ayden chimed in, saying, "I feel we've grown. When we just debuted, I used to think my best is to not make any mistakes, but these days, I'm able to make eye contact with the audience and act more spontaneously onstage."

Epex is set to launch its first fan-concert tour with the new album. Starting in Seoul on June 10, the band is set to tour around four cities in Asia with its first fan concert "Sunshower."

By Choi Ji-won(jwc@heraldcorp.com)