Lim Kim: more than a Simple Mind

Lim Kim is the singer all the aspiring songwriter idol boys looking for cred cite as their favourite (usually along with IU). In a world of manufactured cool, Lim Kim stands out. Her voice has a faint nasal tone to it, in the manner of a French chanteuse, and her persona is aloof yet down to earth, making her seem oddly approachable.
On her latest album, Simple Mind, she has worked with rapper Beenzino, folk singer-songwriter Lucid Falls, Smoky Girl producer Primary and Jonghyun, from SHINee, who had a pretty good song on the recent Exo album, as well as writing credits on his solo debut earlier this year. She also worked with Yoon Jong Shin, who mentored her and Do Dae-Yoon when they competed as a duo on Superstar K3.

At first, I thought this was more cohesive style-wise than most K-pop albums - or even K-Pop songs, which tend to throw a bunch of styles into the pot (and do it faultlessly). But I've realised that it's just as diverse as most K-pop releases, and it's Lim's voice that provides the imprimateur.
Simple Mind begins with the Primary-produced Awoo, which is reminiscent of tracks produced in the '60s when the likes of Hugo Montenegro and Perrey and Kingsley were experimenting with technology and "exotic" sounds from other cultures. (Japan's Yasutaka Nakata likes to do a bit of that too.)
Jonghyun's No More is a delightful old-fashioned Euro pop song. You can see Lim Kim skipping by the Seine in a miniskirt and mary-janes. Beenzino's Breeze is as the title suggests: a laidback hip-hop jazz track.
In an interview on Pops in Seoul last week, Lim said she found working with Beenzino a revelation because hip-hop artists "are so free". Working with Jonghyun was the opposite: "he was very meticulous," she said, "he gave me detailed directions".
Apart from that, this interview is a little disappointing: Lim grew up in the States and Pops in Seoul is an English-language show so I don't know why she didn't speak English.