Tune Evaluation: GFriend – Season Of Recollections

(EDIT: It seems it is a pre-release audio of the particular title monitor, which is a bit disappointing to be trustworthy. I’d edit the primary evaluate, however it might find yourself being extra of a rewrite than something so I’ll depart it as is and possibly revisit in every week. I swear their promo talked about a pre-release earlier than the title monitor on the thirteenth, however I suppose I misunderstood.)

I wouldn’t often write a full music evaluate for an unpromoted pre-release with no music video, however GFriend have just lately been inaugurated into my “Okay-Pop A-Z” membership. Over the previous few months, I’ve been writing about each single music they’ve recorded (only some extra to go!) and commit to write down about any music they could launch sooner or later. That begins with Season Of Recollections (우리의 다정한 계절 속에), a pre-release taster earlier than their large reunion in a couple of week.

Each fiber of my being anticipated Season to be the requisite ballad countering what is going to possible be a extra up-tempo title monitor, so when the music kicked off with sprightly guitar I discovered myself instantly stunned. Greater than present Okay-pop developments, the manufacturing echoes sounds at the moment in style in Japan. I suppose this is sensible since GFriend’s music has all the time borrowed closely from J-pop types. The instrumental is swift however nonetheless a bit subdued, forgoing bombast for a nimble — typically jazzy — strategy. It befits the mature period the group finds themselves in now, even when it by no means seeks to recapture the glory of their most iconic materials.

I’ve a sense Season Of Recollections will get pleasure from robust longevity, however after the primary few listens I’m nonetheless craving the melodic magic GFriend constructed their discography on. Slightly than blossom and soar, the melodies play issues cool and aloof. The refrain comes closest to breaking free from the music’s constraints, and is handiest when the ladies’ voices are layered collectively. That sense of overwhelming optimism is their strongest calling card and I’m hoping that’s the course we’re heading in.

Grade: B