You can always count on Sunny Hill to bring a bit of depth to pop music. The thinking man's idol group criticized the K-Pop industry with their control-themed 'Midnight Circus' mini-album, addressed death on the spooky ballad "Pray", and used a children's fable to explore issues related to self-fulfillment and Korea's working culture in January's "The Grasshopper Song".

Now Sunny Hill are back with one less member and a new single "Is The White Horse Coming?", and this time around, they're taking aim at the current generation's shallow approach to dating.



"Don't start judging by their appearance," they sing, "don't ask about their academic background / don't take a look at their figure / don't ask what kind of car they drive or where they live / don't ask what their father does."

"Is The White Horse Coming?" serves as a tongue-in-cheek satire on the way people today treat potential partners like a product, judging primarily on wealth, looks, and other superficial stats, rather than just going off of feelings and personality.

Finding a partner for reasons outside of love has been going on since the dawn of time, and Sunny Hill aren't exactly broaching an entirely original subject here like they did on "The Grasshopper Song", but it's still an interesting thing to create a pop song about. The less-than-serious approach to the delivery helps tremendously, and you get the sense that Sunny Hill are just having fun with a social issue, rather than preaching about it.

When I first listened to "Is The White Horse Coming?" last night, I thought that it was too mainstream-sounding for Sunny Hill, and now I can't believe that thought even crossed my mind. The dance-based production from K-Pop composer Lee Min Soo might catch Sunny Hill fans like myself off-guard at first, but it's far from what you'd consider typical or commercial. The thumping house beats at the core of the song have been chopped up with Lee Min Soo's usual quirky horns and topped off with splashes of acid jazz and Spanish flamenco, while the vocal arrangements are completely chaotic and crazy. It's hard to tell where the song will go, but what it lacks in catchiness, it makes up for with its wild unpredictability.

"Is The White Horse Coming?" is cool, crazy, and sharply intelligent, which by now should be everything you've come to want and expect from a Sunny Hill single. It's further proof that Lee Min Soo is one of the most off-the-wall producers in pop today, while Sunny Hill continue to be one of the most exciting girl groups in the game.

The only thing left to ask is: Is the album coming soon?

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