Ukulele player finds inspiration on his way to buy fresh food

Ethan Hoffman performs "GS25" in his act Le chat au cafe, next to Changdeok Palace in this video released Jan. 31. / Courtesy of Le chat au cafe

By Jon Dunbar

Ukulele player Ethan Hoffman moved to Seoul recently, taking up residence in the city center's historic Bukchon Hanok Village.

"Nearly every day, I make a point of going out to see it and appreciating the view. There wasn't anything like that to see where I lived before," said Hoffman, 32, who left the U.S. in 2014 and lived in Yeokgok in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, until last year. "One of my dreams is also to buy and renovate an old hanok."

But the big problem he found with living in Bukchon was the lack of supermarkets nearby. So he picked up his ukulele and wrote a song about going in search of fresh food, finally arriving at the local convenience store, a GS25, which led him to write a song about it and release a music video on March 15.

Together with his partner Hana Yu, he created the act Le chat au cafe. It has a French name because that's their primary language of communication (and the language of the 2020 album "Bon coeurage"). Together they put personal experiences into songs, and since 2019 they've been recording videos on location for some of the songs. He puts together and performs most of the songs, while Yu is more of a producer, handling the video camera. She also contributes her own lyrics and melodies, such as the opening verse and chorus to "Every Cat is a Kitten," a cute love song to cats.

"It's truly a bedroom pop affair," he said. "I think it's great to sing about things that are interesting to me, and I value simplicity, so that's why a lot of my songs are about simple things in everyday life, such as coffee, cats and going to the store."

Before the pandemic, they would make "travelogue albums" every time they took a trip abroad, going to Japan several times as well as Vietnam.

"I really enjoyed making songs about the places we went to and the things we did. Instead of making a scrapbook of photos, I would sing a song about it," Hoffman said. "I feel like it's a great way to express myself, and writing lyrics about places and things I did has ended up being like a diary. I'll try to remember this cafe or landmark I visited, and the song melody and lyrics help me do that! So I think it will be really valuable for me later on in life looking back on my youth. I feel that 'travelogue' albums are my specialty and maybe something unique that I do."

He described a visit to Japan in which he had to walk nearly 20 kilometers under the hot sun, "with nothing to do but make a song in my head and arrange it just right." He ended up with the song "Sunayama" in which he wails about getting a sunburn. The song is on his eight-song travelogue album titled "Miyakojima" released in 2017. That album ends with one of his signature songs, "FamilyMart," which helped inspire the "GS25" song.

"I'm attracted to the idea of a curated album that someone has made, with a perfect start and a perfect ending, and that's how I approach making music," he said. "It's perfect for my obsessive attitude, because I can work furiously for several weeks or months on something, and when it's done, I might find myself interested in something else until I get that itch again."

Originally from the southern U.S. state of Tennessee, Hoffman never thought he would move to Korea until he met people from other countries while studying abroad.

"Some Korean classmates introduced me to Korean food and music, and I've been interested in Korea since then," he said. "I love old-timey Korean music, such as The Pearl Sisters from the 1960s and City Boys from the 1980s, and ceramic art, especially the simple but mysterious shape of Korea's moon jar."

He started getting serious about writing and playing music in 2016.

"I would write a song nearly every day!" he said. "Most of them weren't very good, but I think it was really good practice to just keep doing that until I could feel really satisfied with my music enough to begin publishing it. I still have a long way to go, but I just love making songs."

His instrument of choice has been the ukulele from a young age, back when his hands were too small to hold a guitar neck. Even after he learned how to play the guitar, he still loves the sound of the ukulele.

"It has a naturally light and playful sound, is easy to carry around, and I think it's unique to have a band that focuses on ukulele," he said. "I like how it's an instrument that's easy for people to pick up, both literally and figuratively."

Before the pandemic, he ran a small ukulele club, meeting in Banpo Hangang Park, or at Cafe Unplugged in Sinchon when the weather was bad.

His time in Korea has inspired his music. As well as the aforementioned "GS25," he's also released "Jeju Spring," a travelogue album about a visit to Jeju Island.

He also released "Yeong-mi" in February, a tribute to the Korean women's curling team.

"The curling team was so inspiring at the PyeongChang Olympics. I think a lot of people watching were hooked by the skip, Kim Eun-jung, screaming 'Yeong-mi' over and over again to her teammate. I certainly was!" he said. "So during the Beijing Olympics, I was really rooting for them as the underdogs. I wanted to write a theme song to cheer them on. At first I wrote it in English with some Korean lyrics, but that seemed lazy, so I decided to do it in Korean."

He admitted it's much harder to make up convincing vocal melodies in Korean and to make himself understood, but he's found a lot of pleasure in trying.

"I intend on making more music about Korea in Korean going forward," he said. "After Lunar New Year, I was able to visit Sokcho, so I'm looking forward to recording things I've written for that later. My travel dream is to visit Ulleungdo and write songs about it!"

But he says his music is just a hobby, with no plans to try going pro.

"I'm not sure if I would enjoy doing it as much if I were contractually bound to make it. That said, it's something I've loved doing for many years now, and I'll still be doing it many years from now," he said. "I always thought music was for professionals and not for regular people like me, but a friend encouraged me to just do it anyway. So I don't have any background playing in other bands, but I highly encourage anyone interested in making music to just do it, no matter how good or bad you feel you are."

Le chat au cafe's latest album, "Cherry Blossom Blues," came out on April 1. His music is available on Melon, Naver, Vibe, Bugs, Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp. Visit lechataucafe.bandcamp.com to listen, or go to youtube.com/user/zifnab213 for the videos of Le chat au cafe.