There are two things that require no introduction to any Kdrama fan: Chicago Typewriter and SaltNPaper. And, in one glorious moment, the two combined to make soundtrack magic.

To finish off Music March, I’d like to talk briefly about my first great OST love – Chicago Typewriter.

Now I’m going to shock and scandalise the site by admitting that Chicago Typewriter as a drama is not one of my favourites, nor is it listed in my Top anything. I’ve tried to rewatch it but got (gasp) bored halfway through.

However, it is enjoyable enough and well-acted enough and atmospheric enough that I often recommend it as a gateway drama to people dipping their first toe in to Korean dramas. Yoo Ah-in is wonderful, Go Kyung-pyo is fun and Yoo Ah-in’s wig steals all its scenes. But most importantly, most transcendentally, that soundtrack soars.

I remember when we first see the typewriter in the store in Chicago. We pan past a melted clock, timepieces ticking and whirring and then a floodlight lands on the intricate machine and that music builds – from nothing, from silence – to a few notes from a piano and then that pure child’s voice and then the song carries us into the past.

It was a moment of such beauty that it stayed with me throughout a drama I found increasingly repetitive and somewhat frustrating. And it was a moment of such emotional resonance that it caused me to do something I’d never done before – download a drama’s OST.

And that’s how I discovered – or rather put a name to – the extensive works of the prolific Michael Y. Kim (MYK) and SaltNPaper. SaltNPaper provides original music for many Korean dramas. If a drama has a song I like, 7 times out of 10 it’s a SaltNPaper song.

While Hats is probably my favourite, I admit still to an attachment to Satellite, which so perfectly encapsulated Chicago Typewriter as a drama.

And so I finish the month with this: my gateway music drug to Korean OSTs.

Enjoy.