When I moved to Chicago ten years ago, I immediately fell in love with a bunch of bands. Most of them are gone now, with only a couple artifacts to prove they ever existed. It’s always sad when a group of people that make great music decide to call it quits, and that was never more true than when Hemmingbirds decided to say goodbye at the end of 2016. December 29th at Lincoln Hall, in front of a lot of friends, the band played their last show together.

Yoo Soo Kim, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, has gone on to do a lot of great work since. He’s played with approximately five million bands, made some commercial tunes you would probably recognize, and even worked on a film score (Ode To Passion) that comes out today. Despite all these successes, he still holds on to the idea of what could have been.

On his latest single, under the moniker Good Son, Kim wears his heart on his sleeve and lays it all on the line. Great bands, throughout history, always begin with great friendships. When the band ends, what happens to those relationships? Here, he puts the blame on himself and takes full responsibility in an effort to mend those open wounds.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past few months, it’s that life is fleeting. There’s no time to waste holding things back from the people who have helped make you the person you are today. So apologize and move on, in song or otherwise. It’s that idea that makes “RE: Beginnings And Endings” so relevant to me right now.

The song is deliberately 90’s-tinged, which I love. Kim is an incredibly gifted musician, and his understanding of the inner workings of melody allow him to craft really beautiful tracks. This one is no different, and I can’t wait to hear more from his latest endeavor, Good Son.