Kim Gun-mo breaks 10-year silence with acoustic guitar, autobiographical new single

Singer Kim Gun-mo has set aside his familiar piano keys and returned with a humble acoustic guitar.

Kim released a new single, "Eodijjeum Gago Isseulkka" ("Where Along the Way Am I Going"), across online music platforms at 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to his agency Geunum Planning.

The single is his first official release in 10 years, following "50," a 2016 album marking his 25th anniversary as a recording artist.

The track is a reinterpretation of the title track from singer Jeon Yeong's 1977 debut album. Kim preserved the lyrical mood of the original while stripping out elaborate instrumental arrangements — a choice that lets his plain yet plaintive voice, deepened by the passage of time, take center stage.

The most striking departure in the new release is the instrument itself. Casting aside his identity as a "piano man," Kim played acoustic guitar in a studio recording for the first time in his musical career. The song, which he strummed and hummed to himself countless times during his long absence from the public eye, carries an autobiographical account of the years he spent in solitary reflection and self-consolation.

The original song's creators — composer Lee Hyeon-seop and lyricist Lee Gyeong-mi, who are married — called it "a remake as welcome and touching as an unexpected gift."

Kim said he hopes the song will reach listeners as "the beginning of a new Kim Gun-mo." He added that it marks the first time in his life he has sung and played guitar at the same time.