Taste, hearing, touch, smell, sight, soul, time… where’s “blurbs”?
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[5.14]
Alfred Soto: I’m a sucker for countdowns and stuttering synths, and I like when the production goes aqua boogie in the last third. This faction of SNH48 has the sound it needs a sharper song.
[7]
Ryo Miyauchi: Not too sure if 7Senses’ inspiration here is outdated or nostalgia already caught up that close where we’re bringing back the successes of the EDM 1.0 age — the pop era that their title track’s synth wobbles sound straight out of. Late opportunists or keen revivalists, they make do with their source as the members fit the street-pop mold note for note. Now it’s just a matter of seeing whether they fare well without relying so much on a proven model.
[6]
Micha Cavaseno: Skimming a lot of electro-tinged pop from the beginning of the decade is actually surprisingly difficult. Very very few of the tracks actually hold up in my opinion, either falling too far in being non-distinct or depend hugely on a sonic trend of the moment (such as say, dubstep wobbles) that can sound incredibly dated. 7Senses self-titled single uses the production style of The Cataracs really well, and surprisingly the production is just right at sounding welcome despite that blast from the past and in general feeling out of place with a lot of modern pop. Then again, it’s in avoiding the greasy rub of a lot of the last year that this song doesn’t sound fresh as much as a relief.
[6]
Iain Mew: A song which spins different sounds around a fixed groove, like a fruit machine displaying different combinations. They line up a few lucky 7s but the machine doesn’t stop long enough to pay out before keeping on gently turning.
[6]
Thomas Inskeep: The women of 7Senses are trying really hard to come off as “hard,” and it’s an abject failure. The music matches their singing & rapping, too, unfortunately. This is really abrasive and frankly rather unmusical, which makes it a pain to listen to.
[2]
Jessica Doyle: It’s hard to see this and not think of 4Minute–their debut song is called “Girl Crush,” for heaven’s sake. But there’s no attempt to soar, just cheerfully taunting rapping: as if 4Minute were composed of seven Sohyuns. I am more appreciative of such a thing than I thought it would be. (It helps that they’re adorable.)
[5]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Amusing that my immediate reaction to “7Senses” is that it sounds like Vintage K-pop. And by that I mean it takes some years-late, dated sounds and tries to make it sound palatable (can’t help but think of “Like a G6” here, for one). It’s refreshing considering how up-to-date K-pop has been the past two years but a part of me thinks this song is a whole lot of “been there, done that.” The propulsive tonal and rhythmic switches from the vocals are a treat but much of this sounds an awful lot like box ticking for me to get excited.
[4]