AB6IX Are So Close To Their Debut Sound

AB6IX is back again after just a short hiatus with their new title Close and fourth mini-album ‘MO’ COMPLETE: HAVE A DREAM.

Ab6ix are back! They have been truly feeding us this year. First the western collab with Why Don’t We, then the repackaged of their third mini-album and only 3 months later we are getting their fourth mini-album. ABNEW are fed, fed. I have to stay I had forgotten for a minute what Ab6ix dropped before, I loved Stay Young but Close is so different from it that I had a hard time connecting the two songs with the group. The teasers for this comeback though… Woong needs to stop because that boy has some powers which truly scare me.

Source: tumblr: Jehoon

Close brings us back to the pre-Salute Ab6ix sound, I enjoyed Salute a lot by the way, it was a massive grower. I didn’t really enjoy the releases before that though since Breathe. And the group is still trying to find their footing I feel like, after losing a member. Someone had promised me Close would bring us back to the Breathe days, and we are kinda there but? Close is not even nearly as catchy or bopy as Breathe was. I had noticed before that Daehwi wasn’t credited for the title song this time so I was a bit worried. I feel like he knows the direction of his group pretty well. Close sounds very Ab6ix but I feel like that chorus is a bit empty? I wish Close had a bit more bombast than those empty beats… give me a full fleshed out chorus. Why do I feel like something is missing here. Ab6ix vocalists really are trying to fill the entire song. But Woojin’s rap is great as per usual and Close really has its best moments when all members sing as a unit.

However, I am pretty sure Close might grow on me, so we will see how it ages! The group is still experimenting with their sound it seems, while I wish Stay Young had indicated a change back to melody, it seems they are slowly going back to their roots of giving us electronic, dance pop. Close is almost there but just needs a bit more merit. I am pretty excited for the b-sides, LULULALA I am looking at you queen. Merry-Go-Round sounds like Stay Young part 2 and A Long Winter is really beautiful. One question remains, what is Ab6ix’s musical direction?

If you know me and my musical pet peeves you already know what I’m about to say in this review. Close goes back a bit more to AB6IX’s original sound (which I still don’t get why they dropped) but it is combined with something I absolutely despise and that is that irritating, beat-beat-POOF-beat computer made type of instrumental which is supposed to make a song more upbeat. I do not know why but this type of instrumental is one of my biggest nightmares in pop in general (where we encounter it the most) and I still haven’t found a song where I like it in.

AB6IX are undoubtedly talented and have a whole lot of potential but I think that the fact that they haven’t really found or pursued a concrete musical style is somewhat putting them at a disadvantage because I just never hear a song and think oh, this really sounds like AB6IX. Exploring is fun but they are also at a stage in their career where they should be thinking of going for a certain pattern. The opinion I have of Close is completely personal and subjective, the song sounds fine on its own and the group delivers it well but since I’m also being honest – this is just not my thing and not the kind of music I like. I really wish the group would explore more vocal-dominated genres or sound as I feel like that would fit them perfectly (like Heaven for example).

The music video fits the song nicely, I love the colour pallete they went with as it goes well with the atmosphere Close creates. The album follows a similar sound, albeit a bit more melodic and while it’s a solid one, none of the songs really stood out for me, with the exceptions of maybe the last track on the album – A Long Winter. Headline has a stunning instrumental, even reaching rock-levels, but I wish other elements of the song were more like it, too.

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