So fucking psyched about this album! I listened to the all the teasers and all of them sounded amazing. Based off of the mini-album highlight medley, I was most looking forward to Straight Line with Flare being second. Honestly though, just from the teasers alone I knew that this mini-album was gonna be right up my alley.
Just a quick heads up I had half of this post written on August 13th, which was a lot closer to when the mini-album came out than now. Not gonna lie, I don't regret putting it off. I still am in love with this album, and Lucy is still releasing content regarding this mini-album on their Youtube channel. I know they released lyric videos for all of these songs, which include the Korean lyrics and the English translations. They also released a commentary on the album with English subs which is just so interesting. They showed the production process as well as the meanings behind each song and the album as a whole. So, please check them out! It's so cool that they did this. I honestly fucking love this band so much. They provide so much quality content that constantly keep me in love with them. Anyway onto the mini-album.
According to the commentary video, this album follows a day in summer. It starts out with refreshing Jogging in the morning. Then there's lunch with Watermelon at the river during the peak heat of the day. Then you drive home jamming to Straight Line. Dusk hits and things start to cool down both temperature wise and with your relationship with a Missing Call. You then reflect at nighttime vibing to Enough. Figuring you had enough of thinking about that you go out again with your friends to the festival and enjoy the Flare of fireworks. I personally believe that the album flows fantastically and fits the summer theme perfectly. You can really feel the different times of day with each song, but it is not jarring in the slightest. Instead, it really just brings you along for the ride and you can really get immersed in the experience that they are conveying. Now the actual songs.
1. Jogging
This song is so fun and summery and the video matches it perfectly. Most of the video is just the band members having a fun time or just chilling out, which is always really great to see and matches the vibe of the song perfectly. I love that throughout the song the members see these huge animals and are just so unbothered. I particularly really enjoyed the shot of Shin Gwang-il at 0:47. It gave Sokka on cactus juice vibes which I really appreciated. I also loved the scenes of the members jamming out with children's instruments, which was just really fun to see. And can I just say that they all look so fucking amazing in the final part of the song when they are just performing. Their stylist deserves a pay raise. I love these outfits so much and wish they could have more live performances so I can see more of these outfits and variations of them, as seen in their showcase, but you know COVID. Unrelated, but shout out to Cap'n Crunch Berries being featured with Hungry Hungry Hippos.
2. Watermelon
Not gonna lie I was surprised by this song. I felt like it was your typical summery song where it has that kind of synth interlude that you would kind of see a dance break for. The also was a lot of elements such as the sort of the electronic backing and the use of autotune during Cho Won-sang's rap section (idk if you do consider it rap, I kinda do) at 1:43ish. It kind of reminded me of KARD's Hola Hola in that sense. Talking about that interlude, in the commentary video, Cho Won-sang talked about the vibe he was going for and I definitely can picture it when listening to it. The song definitely has a hazy feeling to it that you would sort of feel on a very hot and humid day, and definitely shows in the interlude with the audio effect they applied (I am not audiotech person I have no clue wtf it's called). Also the idea of diving into the water and being submerged during that interlude, I could definitely hear as well with the bubble and water effects as wells as that audio effect. I love this kind of music where it transports you to a certain event or place. I think I talked about this with BAP's Carnival, where the mini-album didn't match their usual sound but it really transported me to a carnival. This is also something that Lucy does so well, which is one of the reasons that I am obsessed with them, and this song really demonstrates it well.
I love this song. It really is right up my alley. I was watching the live clip that they posted on September 23, and I noticed that they added a drum solo and bass solo during the interlude section of the song that was not originally. AND WHY?? Those solos were amazing! The drum solo was, in my opinion, quite impressive. It was able to display Shin Gwang-il's drumming ability (I am still surprised that he is not originally drummer because he did really well) while still remaining in the tone of the song, which a typical drum solo wouldn't be able. Cho Won-sang's bass solo was also on point. I think, in general, the bass in this song is chef's kiss, and this solo just adds the perfect garnish to this Michelin Star dish. I'm just upset this is not in the recorded version though. It deserves to be there, and every time I listen to the album I am gonna wish it was there and am going to have to pop on to Youtube to listen to the live version. I also saw another live version of this song which had different solos, which means these are improvised every time they perform live like traditional jazz artists. Like excuse me, who the fuck gave these people the right to be that talented.
Ok, so, I was so psyched to see in the teasers that Lucy was collabing with Suran. Like I love her music and I really believed that their music styles would match really well. I wasn't wrong, the song was fucking great. First off, I love Suran and Choi Sang-yeob's voices together. There are times in the song where they are both singing but one of their voices are put in front, and I love that effect because a sort of dreamlike quality. Also, the violin fits perfectly with this song. It really adds to the sort of nighttime, dusk ambiance this song portrays. I feel like this song really does a great job showcasing Choi Sang-yeob's singing and Shin Ye-chan's violin playing in such a beautiful way since they really worked so well together in the song and the tone the song was giving.
5. Enough
I love the jazz influence. When I listen to this song, I can just imagine Lucy playing at some open mic or at jazz bar or something like that aesthetic. This song definitely matches the sort of evening lofi sound they were going for. It also fits the exact genre of indie I have been listening to. Like it has that laid back jazz vibe but something in the way it is produced makes it sound echoey and dreamlike. A specific song that it reminds me of would be Staring 'Cross the Water by Juniper. I adore the bass in this song. Rather than an electric bass, it sounds more like an upright which really adds to the jazz sounds I'm getting and I am obsessed with it. In the commentary track, they were talking about how this Shin Gwang-il's solo song and how he actually wrote it as well. I am honestly so impressed and just in love with this song. His voice is perfect for it and I really think he did an amazing job.
6. Flare
For a solid few days I was wondering why the clip of Flare from the highlight medley sounded so familiar, and then after searching "lucy flare" on Youtube, I found out why. Lucy performed this song on Superband and played it previously on their Youtube channel with their new singer, Choi Sang Yeob. I love this song. It is so dynamic and you can really just feel the emotion put in to it. It is for sure the perfect ending to this insane album. The first section of the song that is slower and more emotional perfectly piggybacks the calm and dreamy Enough. Then it has the fireworks, which is just a staple of summer and the beat picks up and song follows more traditional rock approach, which I am definitely here for. Like this is type of song that you would see a series finale song of an anime. It really has that emotional and dramatic appeal to it that just makes it so beautiful and the perfect ending.
So, I'm sure you can tell with this probably quite long review of this mini-album that I am in love with both the mini-album and Lucy. They are truly amazing artists. I am having a hard time finding the production credits for this mini-album, but I know for a fact the members of Lucy played a large role in the writing and production of these amazing songs. From the commentary track, I can tell that Cho Won-sang did a lot of producing and that Shin Gwang-il wrote Enough. But yeah, these are super talented and did an amazing job with this mini-album. My favorite song of this album is Straight Line, specifically the live clip version. I am obsessed with those solos and so wish they were in the recorded version. I highly encourage you to check this mini-album and Lucy as whole out. I cannot stress enough how amazing and beautiful their music is. I linked all of their official lyric videos to the title of each song so please take a listen. So... Um... Yeah...
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