RoaD-B have had an outsize presence on The Bias Record relative to their lack of recognition elsewhere. I’m fairly assured that 99.9% of Okay-pop followers who don’t learn this weblog have but to even hear their identify. In spite of everything, they’ve solely had one televised efficiency. Nonetheless, their debut single Nonstop was an enormous spotlight of this spring. You may sum up its success in a single phrase: Sweetune.
I don’t suppose I must reiterate how a lot I really like Sweetune’s music. However, I’ll word that their melody strains are hardly ever apparent. They bend if you suppose they’ll break — soar if you count on them to resolve quietly. But if you happen to immerse your self of their work for a while, you’ll be able to spot a Sweetune music from a mile away. It’s this mix of familiarity and shock that makes their tracks so addictive and enduring.
The opposite vital factor about Sweetune is that they’ll at all times provide you with an awesome refrain. This is among the world’s nice constants. On this regard, Nonstop felt like a slowly unfurling tease – all build-up and rigidity. New single Icarus, however, opens proudly with its megawatt hook. This chorus is by far the music’s best asset, performing like an enormous, sugary anchor. It’s an ideal mix of breezy and highly effective and it’ll sweep you off your ft every time it comes round.
I’m not as thrilled about Icarus’s slowed-down verses. This can be a private peeve of mine. I don’t usually get pleasure from dramatic vitality shifts between verse and refrain, and although Sweetune navigate this strategy in addition to you’d count on, these segments really feel extra like connective tissue than highlights on their very own. Fortunately, a chanted pre-chorus provides a punch of vitality simply when the music wants it. Sure, Sweetune may even make dopey sing-talk sound recent and compelling!
Even though this evaluation reads as Sweetune worship, I’m truly docking the observe for its manufacturing. Bizarre, huh? It’s a subjective factor, and I anticipate Icarus rising on me the longer I hear it. However, I feel it may have been a song-of-the-year candidate had the vitality of its refrain dominated all the observe. I suppose it’ll need to accept “the perfect comeback of September ’22 (thus far).”
One factor’s for certain: I’ll be proudly waving the RoaD-B flag so long as they maintain giving us Sweetune-produced bangers like this. What can I say? The weblog’s known as The Bias Record for a motive!
