APRIL - DREAMING

Tracklist:

1. Dream Candy
2. Hurry Hurry
3. Knock Knock
4. Feeling
5. Luv Me x3
6. Thriller



DSP Media's newest girl group, April, wants you to be 'Dreaming' of them, releasing their first EP at the end of August. The group consists of six girls: Hyun Joo, Ye Na, Chae Won, Na Eun, Jin Sol, and So Min. Bringing an adorable, innocent image, their debut album features six tracks.

"Dream Candy" is their title track, and it's a little disappointing. It's bright, cute, poppy, but it doesn't really do much to showcase their talents. The girls each get a snippet to sing, and they do so well; the in-sync singing is skillfully executed, but it sounds like every other debut single from every other rookie girl group. It's not a bad tune, not at all, it's just not the strongest song they could have led with. The lyrics are a cutesy ode to love, with stars and clouds and cotton candy.



"Hurry Hurry" is done with a little more heart and energy, and shows off their vocal talents much more than "Dream Candy." There's a sort of an R&B/15& influence here, detectable but not so much that it's apish. Here you can tell some of the reasons these girls made the cut at the audition. It's pretty, with sweet bridges and cute vocals. The song is telling the guy to hurry up and ask the singer out before someone else does.

The third track, "Knock Knock," is a sugary pop confection that uses pianos and a semi-staccato melody to the vocals. It's got a swingy feel to it and loses none of those high vocals amid the insistent piano. Singing singly or by twos and threes, it's got a definite chorus, and very simple but effective hook. It's technically perfectly-crafted, a head-nodding, innocent track telling you to knock on their hearts.



"Feeling" shows its dance-pop roots more obviously than the previous three tracks, with a synth that bleeps happily behind them as they sing their hearts out. It's a pretty, high-tempo song, and is reminiscent of the first song, with fewer of its flaws. There's more of a bit of impertinence to some of the vocals, even if the lyrics don't show it.   

While the title looks more like a musical cue, "Luv Me x3" starts out with staccato synth washes, and chugs along as it adds instruments. The chorus is largely swallowed except for the extra instrumentation -- always a risk -- but it pays off here. There's no build-up and then let-down during the chorus, as the high-tempo song never really loses steam. They've even got some belts here.



"Thriller" is the most danceable of all the songs on the album. It's also the one that sounds the least like them, and shows a modicum of maturity while rehashing the tropes. Starting with an autotuned vocalization of the title, it quickly evolves into body-moving beats and even a bit of (terrible) idol-rapping. The song is telling the guy to stop playing with their heart, and they're mad. They manage to package all this into 3 minutes of fun.

The last half of the album seems to see them let go more and dress up the tracks with synth effects. It's funny because it almost seems to tell a story, but I'm not sure that's what they intended. I can imagine it going something like this: "I've given you all these cues I'm interested. We got together and now I'm getting tired of being treated like this." I like this debut. It's got a few influences without being too obviously genre-crossing, always managing to bring that adorable charm. It's not Kraftwerk, but more a guilty pleasure that should more than satisfy your musical sweet tooth.

MV REVIEW

The girls frolic in a Swiss valley in their new video "Candy Dream."

The MV starts out much like a G-Friend video, where the girls are walking through misty woods to the location of their new set with the aid of a map. From there, we see the girls dancing or sweetly playing with various items, sitting, singing, etc. There's a not a lot to see here, though there are mountains in the background during some of the dance scenes, and the thing does have a vibrancy to the color scheme. There is a sequence where a flower grows taller each time they see it, and a unicorn appears (instead of just the miniature of it). It's reminiscent of a fairy tale, or, maybe..a dream?


A girl and her unicorn. Kinda gets you right here.

Some of the dresses are reminiscent of something out of "Heidi," or even a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. The rest of the time they're in white shifts, obviously meant to play up their innocence.

The dancing is fairly good. It's nothing amazing, but it's in sync they way they're supposed to be. It's a rookie group, so they met my expectations.



It's okay for a debut video, though I think I wanted to see more. It's difficult to come up with a new concept, and I think the Swiss Alps/"Heidi" angle was a nice touch, even if the mountain range in the background was all kinds of fake. While the imagery doesn't really fit with the music, it gives you something to watch. The tune doesn't do much for me, though the MV was cute by turns.

All in all, it's pretty solid album, if you're into light, fluffy, pop (which I am). The MV isn't all that, but it's not wretched. At least there are no crotch shots. :)

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