Song Review:: KAVE: Say My Name- You

• Release date: 2024 November 11

• Album tracklist: Achoo, Stone, You, Umm Umm Umm, Follow Me, Say My Name, Blue

• Album runtime: 20 minutes

 I know literally nothing about this group, but I like to mix in some smaller releases for artists/groups that I've never heard of occasionally because someone else might discover them and fall absolutely in love, and nothing would make me happier than to be the one to facilitate that. As was the case with me. I can't wait to review Stone as well when they drop the music video for it, because that one is easily the best song on the album. And it's an entire album of some of the best music I've heard in a while, so much so that it's a contender for my favorite album to release this year. The current leader for that I listened to for three weeks on repeat when it came out. 

Thank you, NU'EST and Seventeen, for being the ages you are to have to start enlisting this year so I had the need to do something to pass the time until you got back. Because otherwise I would never have had any idea this band existed.

Let's try to turn this into something coherent.

Normally, I'd be grumping about the album run time right about now, and I do wish it was longer, but they packed so much song in to each song that I'm weirdly okay with it? There's very little fluff to be had here.

The beginning instrumentals are so deliciously creepy, and then the sound transitions into something a little more standard rock, but then we get one more time where those introductory instruments return to say hello. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about the instrumentals, other than the control over the energy and sound is so masterful that they compliment the band's vocals perfectly. It looks like at least two of the members are writers for the song, and Gaho, one of the members, is the recording engineer, which is deeply impressive to me. 

The lyrics are in fact all in English, but their voices are so perfect for my brain that I kept finding myself zoning out and just listening to the sounds of their voices instead of what they were saying. Rather than having a huge burst of energy at the end, the vocals of the chorus got layered with much higher ad-libs to create a dense wall of sound that produces as much punch as if they'd actually gone that hard. Speaking of the chorus, that's a really good length for it. As much as I stop paying attention to the actual words, the melody sounds so good with them. And the bridge! Effective and sublime with an absolutely beautiful vocal run. I think the technique at the end of the pre-chorus might actually be a trill, which is one of my favorite vocal techniques to hear, and something that should be used more in K-Pop because what better way to show off your vocal control than with an excellently placed trill? It's a slow one, granted, and because it isn't an operatic trill, it does require the throat and muscles to move a little differently, but hitting the correct notes during a trill anyway never ceases to impress me, even though with trained singers, they should be able to do it, but no one ever does.

1940s styling. Oh, be still, my soul. Also, the combination of serious performance and silent-film-era production sections delights me to know end. The music video is a little bit goofy, but who doesn't want a little goofiness in their lives? Lovely retro vibe. I'm here for this.