Released on August 15, <NOW>  is an album rooted in the honesty of the natural world, something So-yoon has felt connected to since childhood. Growing up in South Korea’s mountainous North Chungcheong Province, she often spent hours outdoors, simply watching trees and sky. “I love nature—sky, sunshine,” she says. “<NOW> is about nature, because I’m from nature.” To her, that grounding makes the music universal. “Even if I don’t use English, people will feel energy and soul in the music.”

Nature isn’t the only foundation of her art. So-yoon’s identity as a guitarist remains just as vital. She started piano lessons at five, but quickly grew restless. “I thought, ‘Piano is not cool enough,” she laughs. A cousin introduced her to electric guitarists like B.B. King and John Mayer, and she became obsessed. Her mother resisted at first, but So-yoon’s persistence paid off: “I learned really fast,” she remembers. Her guitar cuts through <NOW,> with both precision and abandon. “New Romantic” skips along with funk-pop ease before bursting into a scorched solo, while “3Revolution” begins as a storming rock track before shifting into a dreamy, shoegaze shimmer. The album resists easy categorization, reflecting the landscapes So-yoon has carried with her whether the mountains of Korea or the sun-drenched sprawl of Los Angeles. SE SO NEON itself has changed shape, too.

Bassist Park Hyunjin departed in February 2025, but So-yoon insists that doesn’t weaken the project; if anything, it frees it. By also directing the band’s videos, she’s reclaiming the multidisciplinary approach that first made her fall in love with art. “I’m a rocker, I have a strong ‘rock attitude,” she says.

The North American tour that wrapped in Los Angeles on September 27 only underscored how fiercely people connect with that ethos. In Santa Ana, a diverse crowd of fans, sang along to every word, even in Korean. A reminder that the band’s willingness to evolve doesn’t distance them from their audience. Proof that So-yoon’s conviction that emotion transcends language holds true.

And now, SE SO NEON is ready to carry <NOW> even farther. This month, they’ll launch a new run of shows across the UK and Europe, beginning October 14 in Manchester, before heading home for dates in Korea and closing out in Northcote, Australia. For an artist who once nearly walked away from music, it doesn’t feel like an ending, or even a continuation. It feels like a beginning, one lived fully in the present.