Song You Need: The post-shoegaze explosion of Asian Glow’s “Dorothee Thines”

The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.

Asian Glow first came to my attention with Paraglow, their mammoth split EP with fellow South Korean post-shoegaze act Parannoul. Both acts bristle with a passion that swears off any hint of drowsiness, but where Parannoul utilizes ear-rending distortion, Asian Glow favors math-rock elegance. "Dorothee Thines," a new song released by Asian Glow on New Year's Day, goes all in on what makes their music special and shoots it in the heart with a needle of pure adrenaline.

The ceaseless forward motion of the song stands in contrast to its lyrics, reflective in a way that resembles being trapped in a bog and slowly sinking. "Over, still again / Everything same as seen," Asian Glow sings, their voice a transmission from a waking dream, "Knocked on your door / Though door is open for me." For most of the song, the stakes of his lyrics remain nebulous even as the intensity of the song mutates from the glossy melodies of Sweet Trip and Crying into a Dance Dance Revolution-ified version of itself.

But towards the end, as the music's matching of the internal chaos peaks, a cloud parts: "I should’ve been here without thinking / Hope I’m gonna be okay this year." It's a much-needed message: despite our destructive and sticky habits and the tendency for self-sabotage, there's no disorder too deep that dreams for something better can't begin to bud.