Hot on the heels of their debut album, Invisible Worker, yonglee & the DOLTANG bring their amalgamation of progressive rock, electronica, jazz and musical satire to Ronnie Scott’s in mid-June. The band’s leader, yonglee, told UK Jazz News about the band’s origins, his musical influences and the importance of a rebellious spirit.
Pianist and composer yonglee leads the Seoul-based quintet, which also features Youngwoo Lee on synths and electronics, Yechan Jo on guitars, Hwansu Kang on electric bass and Dayeon Seok on drums. He brought the band together in March 2023, initially to play a festival show: “All five of us were living in different parts of the world, but when the pandemic hit, everyone took the opportunity to come back home. We started exploring various musical ideas, drawing from each other’s backgrounds in several different groups (some of the band had previously recorded with yonglee on his album Surface of Time). Then one day, I had a festival show and thought, ‘This is the time to bring everyone together on one ship’.” yonglee chose the band’s name, DOLTANG, which is short for “Return of the Prodigals” in Korean. “I was aiming for a name that would capture a rebellious spirit and reflect our musical identities,” he says, “Some people initially opposed the name, saying it carried religious overtones. But that only made me like it more, and I’ve continued using it as our band name ever since.”
Based on a video of their performance at Jazzahead! in 2024, they’re a serious-minded bunch, all clad in black and various shades of blue, with an air of studiousness enhanced by four of the five wearing glasses and emphasised by an absence of smiles (drummer Seok is the exception on both counts). But appearances can be deceptive, and tune titles such as “Do Plastic Bags Dream About Sunset,” or “S50und P61ant7” (co-written by Yonglee and Youngwoo Lee), suggest all is not how it seems: this is, after all, a band that describes its music as delivering “a satirical exploration of modern society’s complexities, absurdities and contradictions through [a] heavy, high-energy sound.”
yonglee & the DOLTANG recorded Invisible Worker in July and November of 2024. It’s an enjoyable and engaging album, with moments of great calm and beauty (the Zappa-esque “March of the Invisibles”) alongside touches of humour on tracks such as “Pay Day” and the jagged funk of “Shell,” and the full-on sonic assault of “Dopamine Rush.” All in all, the music certainly seems rooted in the progressive rock and jazz of the 1970s, and I suggest to yonglee that it displays hints of early Soft Machine, a bit of Zappa, or a touch of Weather Report. yonglee appreciates the comparisons, and adds a couple more, including one of the legends of jazz: “Thanks for the recognition — those were my high school jams. With this project in particular, I wanted to revisit the memories of my teenage years. As I remember it, that was when I loved music completely free from any concern about making a living. In addition to the musicians you mentioned, I would also include Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin as two of the biggest influences for this project. Outside of this project, I’ve learned a lot from the music of Thelonious Monk.”
Most of the tracks on Invisible Worker are instrumentals, but on two of the tracks — “Florescent Light” and “Dopamine Rush” — vocalist Song Yi Jeon joins the quintet. Her addition to the band wasn’t planned, but happened when one of the regular band members couldn’t make it to a concert. yonglee is glad that he asked her to join DOLTANG: “By chance, we had Song Yi join us in Berlin last year. Our guitarist couldn’t make it to the show, and by then, I had known Song Yi for many years. Replacing a guitarist with a vocalist was definitely an adventurous move, but I had faith that she would enrich our sound. Just as we expected, she delivered an incredible performance, and to commemorate that, I asked her to feature on two tracks for the album.” Unfortunately, the band do not have plans for her to join them for the Ronnie Scott’s show: “But,” says yonglee, “if the right timing and inspiration strike again as they did in Berlin with Song Yi, I would love to collaborate with vocalists anytime in future.”
yonglee & the DOLTANG’s Ronnie Scott’s appearance is one of the final dates on a 17 day tour that takes in 11 venues across Europe, including dates in Amsterdam, Bruges, Warsaw, Poznan and Vienna in support of Invisible Worker: “It is our longest tour so far,” says yonglee, “and it is our first UK performance. We are really thrilled to meet the audience in the UK!!”
yonglee & the DOLTANG play Ronnie Scott’s Club in Frith Street, Soho, on Thursday 19 June at 8.30pm.
