The lighthearted lyrical masterminds of acoustic duo 10cm have finally unveiled their third studio album, “3.0,” a release that will surprise some fans with songs of a more sexual nature.

Kwon Jung-yeol and Yoon Cheol-jong, the duo that helped catapult indie music into the mainstream by singing good-natured songs about Americanos and loving someone even if they smell, claim they are slowly starting to shift toward more risque topics on their new 10-track album, which dropped Wednesday.

“To be perfectly honest, I’m not exactly sure what kind of lyrics appeal to the masses in general, I just tend to write about what first comes to mind,” said Kwon, during a media showcase on Tuesday at the Happy Theatre in Seoul. 

“If people are asking why we are writing more songs for adults, I think the answer is pretty simple ― it’s because we are adults,” the 31-year-old explained with a grin. “And since on average I would say that 95 percent of what I think about has to do with sex, the lyrics are naturally going to reflect this.”

The album features the single “Caress,” its adults-only music video having been revealed to the public Thursday. Although the members admitted they had thought about releasing an entirely explicit album, they said the album as a whole was quite reserved.

“I don’t really think of this album as being overly inappropriate or anything, I think there’s just a couple songs that are sexual in nature,” said Kwon.

For those wondering how best to sum up the concept behind the duo’s new album, Kwon and Yoon took out all the guesswork with the first track, “The Burdens of Our Third Album.”

The single literally expresses their step-by-step thought process behind the making of the album, starting off with the lyrics, “What kind of songs do we need to produce? Do they need to be like ‘Americano?’ Should they be about sex?”

“I mean where else in the music industry are you going to find lyrics like this,” Kwon said, laughing.

The musicians laid it all on the line with their latest release. Although they kept their distinctive acoustic folk vibe and Kwon’s signature style of oddly soothing nasal singing, 10cm decided to take a risk not only by seeking to appeal to an older audience, but also by choosing to omit the band’s signature djembe ― a skin-covered drum.

“This time around, we really just needed to do something different, we needed to try out new sounds,” said Yoon.

“Compared to our past albums, I would definitely say that we are most proud of this album,” Kwon added. “With our first and second albums, they both had me playing that drum and had that acoustic feel, so we just needed to try something new. So we got rid of the drums and also added some electronic rock guitar elements to our new music.”

To commemorate its new album, 10cm will hold a handful of concerts in Seoul and Busan next month, just in time for the holiday season. The band’s first two shows will be held at the Sohyang Musical Center Busan on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day before the two head back to Seoul for five consecutive shows starting Dec. 26.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)