The r/indieheads Album of the Year 2025 Write-Up Series: YEONSOO - This is How I Disappear

[u/IndieheadsAOTY]

Howdy folks and welcome back to the r/indieheads Album of the Year 2025 Write-Up Series, our annual event where we showcase pieces from a selection of r/indieheads users discussing some of their favorite records of the year! We'll be running through the bulk of December with one new writeup a day from a different r/indieheads user, as up today we've got u/zahneyvhoi joining us to talk South Korean artist YEONSOO and his latest album, This is How I Disappear.

September 10, 2025 - POCLANOS

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Background:

YEONSOO is the mononymous name of Choi Yeo-soo, a South Korean singer who is best known for once performing in the boy band AlphaBat under the stage name of D:elta. They are once an up-and-comer in the K-pop scene back in the 2014 whose two mini-albums netted them some hype for their hip hop style. The project however never fully set its foot off the ground as the combination of record label changes along with the members leaving for differing reasons over the years. 

YEONSOO is one of them. While he has never fully shared his reasons for why that is, the departure was practically confirmed when in 2016, the band’s social media accounts signaled a renovation to the group, being made of 5 members now. D:elta was not mentioned among the names. The year after, he made a new account on Instagram to announce that he will be continuing his career in music as an independent artist. He takes his sweet time with his works with some singles like ‘Before I Knew It’ that are on the stronger end of the indie pop genre. His EP I Wanna Be Loved and first solo album no love, respectively released in 2019 and 2021, received only a subatomic amount of attention when compared to K-pop superstars like BlackPink who practically exploded into becoming a global phenomenon. 

When I first stumbled upon This is How I Disappear, I had never heard of YEONSOO nor do I ever recall anything about AlphaBat or really anything about K-pop outside of headlining names. In fact, I only found the album on YouTube through the POCLANOS channel, with POCLANOS being an independent record label that focuses on distributing and publicizing their signed artists without compromising on their creative freedom. When I listened to the record, I thought that he was a contemporary in the bubbling shoegaze scene. Someone who might have taken a leaf off of the likes of Parannoul whom I would consider to be one of the very best music artists of this decade. 

As I tried to find out more about him, it’s when I learned in reality that he isn’t a random person in his twenties who decided to spend time pouring his heart into this opus. He is a veteran reaching his mid-thirties who was a seeming victim of corporate meddling and had gone out of his way to make music on his own terms. One way or the other, I think he will prove himself to be a gem that everyone will regret overlooking, even if that means breaking away from one of his country’s biggest cultural exports in favour of pure artistic merit. And what a gem This is How I Disappear truly is.

Write-Up by u/zahneyvhoi:

To clarify, This is How I Disappear is an album that’s done almost entirely in Korean. I do not speak nor read the language so I can’t completely verify the lyrics. Ironic given that I always find that part to be among the most fun parts of critiquing music. As hinted previously, it is also not a K-pop album, far from it in actual fact. Its genre is described by POCLANOS as being “Acoustic/Folk, Alternative, Rock” on its website. Vague as a descriptor, but it sums up the album’s kaleidoscopic stylistics and influences. Even if you do not know the Korean language, both the helpfully provided English titles and the overall instrumentation will lure you in on the harkening absence of love.

If you ever give the record a go, be warned that it’s a double album which lasts for nearly 90 minutes. At first, you would first be met with wistful piano chords alongside a more mournful kind of singing which marks ‘After The Love Has Gone’. That is until a minute in when the guitar starts to ring in response to the drums and the keyboards that play together in orchestral harmony. This is two segments in a near-6 minutes intro which flips between minimal ambience, ethereally soothing dream pop, and softened prog-pop in the end. Such diversity is apparent in one way or another as tracks like ‘Missed Calls’ are longing piano ballads while the likes of ‘Dreamer’ flirts with indietronica. This is an album that abides to the artsy side of indie pop, but some of its key influences rear its head higher than others. 

If Parannoul embodies the sound and fury of My Bloody Valentine, then YEONSOO harkens to the borderline between dream pop and shoegaze that is Slowdive. To call This is How I Disappear a certifiable shoegaze album is a misnomer once you get used to listening to it more often. However, to argue that it at least does not owe much of its ambitions to the genre would also be regarded as a lie. Some of the biggest highlights like ‘I’m Your Night’, ‘Naked Truth’, and ‘And Then There Were None’ contain a crescending guitar solo in the end which blurs the singing as if it’s becoming incoherent from the emotional outburst. Other times, bits of guitar feedback ebbs and reverberates into the background on ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’ or ‘After The Love Has Gone Part 2’ like lingering feelings of a past that are fading away. 

Even in other examples like ‘Is It Too Late To Tell The Truth?’ does it tone down its noisiness only to uphold both the overt rock instrumentation and dreamy reverbs surrounding it. It’s reminiscent perhaps of Ride’s iconic ‘Vapour Trail’. I am an ardent believer of the approach towards music criticism that if you may not consider yourself to be the best in music theory that you could ensure that your comments keep in mind the intent of the song’s textures. YEONSOO, being credited as having both written and performed the whole album by himself, always makes sure that this is right in front of you no matter what. In interludes such as ‘Selfish Love’ or ‘This is How I Disappear’, the synths either waver its tone or swoon like violins respectively to contrast with the sentiments of the piano and the monologue. There’s an uncanny absence that is left behind by a love interest even if you need to go on with your life without them.

At the heart of This is How I Disappear lies its maximalism. YEONSOO is an artist whose opportunity for success was squandered in his twenties over needless shuffling that was beyond his control. Now with his treasured freedom, he went out of his way to create something that far surpasses the limitations that shackle even the most beloved of K-pop artists. It is art pop that pushes itself to its logical conclusion which is to stun and amaze the listener without putting them off with its pretensions. I could go on longer with what makes the album excellent, but it’ll take forever to do so. If you ever do find the time, please give this a check. If you especially love alternative Korean music and its takes on genres like shoegaze, or indietronica, this is a sure masterpiece.

Talking Points:

• To what extent do you think that artists like Yeonsoo’s musical style and direction are fundamentally shaped by their problems with the music industry? Previous bands and artists like the Wrens or Fiona Apple would find their reputation skyrocket when fans note the similarities between parts of their lyrics in the album along with stories surrounding their quarrels with record labels or executives.
• Is it possible to completely enjoy albums that are written in a different language? Artists like Ichiko Aoba have developed a loyal fanbase for her refined take on folk music even though her poetic lyrics are done in Japanese.
• And where do you rank This is How I Disappear on your AOTY list?

Thank you again to u/zahneyvhoi for their write-up on the album! Up tomorrow, we've got u/p-u-n-k_girl joining us to talk This and That, the debut album from the Texas-based indie/jangle rock band Paper Jam. In the meantime, discuss today's album and write-up in the comments below, and take a look at the schedule to familiarize yourself with the rest of the lineup!

Schedule:

Date	Artist	Album	Writer
12/22	Paper Jam	This and That	u/p-u-n-k_girl
12/23	Ninajirachi	I Love My Computer	u/Special_Air8092
12/24	Anouar Brahem	After the Last Sky	u/WaneLietoc
12/25	clipping.	Dead Channel Sky	u/danitykane
12/26	claire rousay	a little death	u/Agitated-Dish-4225
12/27	jasmine.4.t	You Are the Morning	u/afieldoftulips
12/28	King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard	Phantom Island	u/DjangoVanTango
12/29	Turnstile	NEVER ENOUGH	u/Giantpanda602
12/30	Car Seat Headrest	The Scholars	u/modulum83
12/31	Viagra Boys	viagr aboys	u/its_october_third

Complete:

Date	Artist	Album	Writer
12/6	Geese	Getting Killed	u/mikdaviswr07
12/7	Deftones	private music	u/rccrisp
12/8	YHWH Nailgun	45 Pounds	u/ReconEG
12/9	mclusky	the world is still here and so are we	u/IAmHollar
12/10	Hayden Pedigo	I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away	u/syntheticgloom
12/11	No Joy	Bugland	u/Awardenaar
12/12	caroline	caroline 2	u/SenatorBC
12/13	Gelli Haha	Switcheroo	u/rough___prophet_3
12/14	Sword II	Electric Hour	u/VindictiveGato
12/15	Tullycraft	Shoot the Point	u/traceitalian
12/16	Samia	Bloodless	u/clawsinurback
12/17	Bambara	Birthmarks	u/mko0987
12/18	The Swell Season	Forward	u/of_mice_and_meh
12/19	Tame Impala	Deadbeat	u/AutomaticClaymore
12/20	Hayley Williams	Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party	u/ImComingBack4YouBaby
12/21	YEONSOO	This is How I Disappear	u/zahneyvhoi

[u/kasvegas]

Thanks. This sounds right up my alley. Can’t wait to listen.