Suburban disaffection has long been fertile ground for creativity. For the Korean American singer-songwriter Abby Hwong, AKA NoSo, growing up in the early 2000s in a majority-white suburb of Chicago highlighted their sense of difference and led to finding an escape in the music of their guitar.
Now 25, Hwong has relocated to Los Angeles. Their guitar-led music plays with the introspective lyricism honed during those formative years of isolation, while also featuring swells of sun-dappled optimism that reflect their changing gender identity. Like their stage name – short for North/South, a response to the “which Korea are you from?” question Hwong would often be asked – their songs toy with the nuances of identity through fingerpicked melodies and soft falsetto, bringing to mind the work of contemporaries such as Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.
Hwong’s debut album, Stay Proud of Me, is an emotive accounting of their life so far, covering everything from gender euphoria (Parasites) to nostalgia (Suburbia) and the nuances of desire (David). “Music is like a public journal, so this is another journal that I show the world for a different period of my life,” Hwong told The Line of Best Fit. It’s a confessional album, enhanced by the artist’s ear for a hook – from the 80s reverb grandeur of Parasites to the funky crescendos on I Feel You – all serving to pass on the same sense of immersive escape that Hwong cherished to a new generation of suburban kids.
Stay Proud of Me is released on 8 July via Partisan8
