zzzaam is a band that formed during 1997-98 and released three albums in the early 2000s. These releases were essentially lost if you didn’t buy the CDs and then early this year, zzzaam’s albums appeared on streaming services. Alongside the re-release of the albums, zzzaam is releasing new music, 19 years after their last full length. siesta is their debut album.
Back in the early 2000s, bands performed some selective genres; when I first heard zzzaam years after they went dormant, I had never heard this kind of music. It’s foundationally rock music with the wandering methodology of post rock and shoegaze and mixing in psychedelic elements too. But the overall arc in zzzaam’s style is minimalism.
siesta bleeds across songs a lot and song lengths range widely. As you listen through, you must be an active listener or you will lose your place in the track and eventually you’ll find yourself in another song entirely. This is a strength and weakness in zzzaam’s music. It’s definitely a chapter marker in Korean rock music and probably something that wasn’t familiar to a lot of the audiences they played for.
But as a fan of the genres that sum up into zzzaam, I like that the band was able to take and infuse these elements together and produce something that hits a lot of emotions without needing to abuse the volume. The minimalistic composition proves that multiple layers aren’t necessary to create a wall of sound to keep you interested.
And I don’t think comparing siesta to current releases makes much sense because the album is from 2000 and serves better as a window into this music era. It’s difficult to find older releases and the fact that zzzaam gave listeners a chance to listen to their music is great. Now that they seem to be releasing new singles, it’s a great way to see what influenced each member and how zzzaam may have changed over the years.