An Evening Out with Plash: The Coolest Band in Seattle

2/9/26

INTERVIEWS

By Olivia Lee

Jeseul Oh of Plash performing at the Vera Project. (Photo by Ellia Cartier)

One of my favorite songs on i live alone, the new debut album by Seattle math-rock band Plash, is the song “telebee,” which opens with the lyric, “Was it all a dream? Was anything real?” When I reflect back on my interview with the group, I catch myself asking the same question. Did I really meet and interview the musical virtuosos behind one of Seattle’s most exciting bands? The whole experience feels a bit unreal.

Since the release of their debut in November, the quartet – consisting of Jeseul Oh (vocals, guitar), James Lee (guitar), FD Riverhill (bass) and Luca Cartner (drums) – have been gaining a well deserved amount of traction in Seattle’s rock scene. Featuring gorgeous melodies sung in Korean and English, rhythmic shifts that feel like you’re stuck in an eternal game of “guess the time signature,” and cascading guitar parts that’ll make your head spin, i live alone brilliantly blends mathematical precision with a warm sense of humanity. Beneath Plash’s obvious technical ability lies a subdued emotional core, one that feels deeply relatable despite the language barrier. Their musical complexity is never indulgent, or an excuse to show off how fast they can tap on guitar (although if they wanted to, they certainly could with no problem), but rather as a tool to mirror feelings of introspection.

To celebrate the release of i live alone, Plash held a record release show at the Vera Project, which felt less like a concert and more of a family gathering. Disposable cameras were passed around, a caricature artist sketched portraits of concert-goers, and free Plash logo stamping turned the event into something more intimate and communal. I had the honor of doing a live interview with the band right before their set (which despite my permeating cynicism in my public speaking abilities, went way better than I could ever imagine). Relive our discussion on making their first album, being a bilingual band, and BTS.

How are you guys feeling on the new album? Congratulations on it!

Jeseul: It's honestly, like, it doesn't feel real yet. I think it's only been a week, right? I think I'm just excited that the songs are out. I was kind of getting sick of them. So today, I’m gonna retire all my energy of these songs to today and then write some new...oh I’m not gonna curse...new shiz.

You guys formed back in 2024 and here we are in 2026 with the release of your debut album i live alone. What happened during those years of development and why did you feel like now was the right time to release the album?

Jeseul: Fred and I were getting kind of old, and so we were like, ‘We need some youth! We need to suck the energy from some 20 year olds.’ And so then first came James. I taught James guitar when he was in middle school, and so he’s like a little buddy to me. But he doesn’t need to be infantilized by that; you can see my guitar DNA in him and I think he’s getting better than me. Which is pissing me off. And then we asked for auditions…we got so many replies and Luka was the first who auditioned...and we were like ‘Wow, okay. Luka is the most legit person ever.’ If you like our band, it’s because Luka is good at drums.

What was the songwriting process like? Were there any specific influences you guys had in mind to incorporate in the album?

James: I like toe. toe’s really good, I like LITE...a lot of just Asian math rock influences. Elephant Gym.

Jeseul: Even though I’m influenced by so many Asian artists, I feel like I grew up on a lot of Japanese stuff, because that’s what was available to me growing up in the States. And then as I get older, I wanna listen to more and more Korean bands. There’s this really great Korean math rock band called Dabda that I really like. And Mid-Air Thief.

I couldn’t speak Korean until my mid-20s, and now I’m now singing in Korean. Whoa.

FD Riverhill (center) and Luca Cartner (right) of Plash performing at the Vera Project. (Photo by Ellia Cartier)

Your Korean heritage feels deeply embedded in the new album, which I really appreciated as a Korean myself. Why was it important for you guys to center the Korean language in the album so prominently?

Jeseul: I talk crap about my music all the time and I can’t take compliments. But one thing I am proud of is being a bilingual band, because I realize there aren’t that many. I think some melodies sound better in different languages. A lot of the time I just write melodies and I’m like, ‘This sounds really bad in English.’ And so I’m like, ‘Okay I have to figure out how to sing this Korean, but I suck at Korean so I don’t know how I’m gonna do this.’ And then I ask my friends who are better than me and it works out.

All of us grew up not super Korean and I think we’re trying to ease into that as we get older. And now it’s like, BTS is cool so we’re just killing it.

Are you guys gonna see them on tour?

Jeseul: Who can get tickets to BTS? Can you get tickets to BTS?

I want to, but I’m not willing to wait...anyways I wanted to talk about your music video (for lead single “sona”). Jesse, I know you do a lot of photography and your style feels very closely aligned with the aesthetics in the video. I wanted to know if your personal photography style has any influences on Plash’s visual identity and if so, what inspires you?

Jeseul: Oh you know I do photography?

I found your Reddit account, so...

Jeseul: You’re picking what’s on there?

It wasn’t anything bad!

Jeseul: It’s not a NSFW account, I promise!

I can only focus on one artistic medium at a time. Fred and I were in a band together when we were wee lads in 2010, The Melancholics. We weren’t doing music for awhile, I needed a creative outlet so I started shooting film. I just try to make things look nice. I just love the medium of film.

So what’s next for Plash? What can audiences expect next from you guys?

James: I wanna write a cool EP that’s like, super weird.

Jeseul: I think I’m just really excited to write new music. So it’s just like, tonight: retire these songs. And we’ll still play them. We have to play them, we don’t have any other songs.

A lot of these songs Fred and I had before, and then they [James and Luka] added onto it. But I’m really excited to write songs as a four-piece all together.

Because I must maintain a sense of coolness (you can’t be a music blogger without having somewhat of a glorified ego), it’d be lame of me to admit that I was nervous for the live interview. But okay, yeah I was pretty nervous. Could you blame me though? Not only was it a live interview in front of hundreds of people, but it was a live interview with freaking PLASH – the coolest band in Seattle. The pressure was on, and my staggering, inflated sense of self-efficacy I tend to rely on during interviews was quickly humbled when I stepped onto the stage. But I really had no reason to be anxious; Plash’s genuine kindness helped me conduct the interview with aplomb. I couldn’t think of a better band to do a live interview with. 감사합니다 Plash!