Sechs Kies sparkle on return, but lack distinct color

The nine-track album has double lead tracks of “Something Special” and “Smile,” which the band said showed both the sentimental and cheery sides of the band.

“Something Special” is a rhythmic number with a bouncy reggae-like beat, while “Smile” is a standard ballad. Most tracks on the album are cheery mid-tempo songs that are easy to follow.

Other artists from the band‘s label YG Entertainment also pitched in on the album. Song Min-ho and Lee Seunghoon of Winner jointly wrote lyrics for “Backhug” with Eun, and Tablo wrote the music and lyrics for “Drinking Problems.”

Kim Jae-duck said the band wanted to produce songs to appeal to the public, rather than the acrobatic dance performances and fast-paced techno beats it was known for in the 1990s.

But the new album fails to reflect the individual bandmates’ musical development more than two decades after their debut. None of the songs or words were written by the members, apart from a joint credit to Eun for lyrics to “Backhug.”

The album had fingerprints of YG’s in-house producers and regular members of the songwriting team, including Kang Wook-jin, Lion and Future Bounce, all over it, which may be why it feels like just another YG album.

It appears that Sechs Kies took a backseat in creating its own album.

“(YG head) Yang Hyun-suk told us to trust and follow him, and we said ‘Yes, sir.’ Which is how we selected our lead tracks,” said Kang.

“It took a long time for us to work on (our) chemistry with the producers. It was hard to reflect each members’ opinions, so the producers focused on making Sechs Kies’ style,” said Eun, whose successful hip-hop career is evident nowhere on the album.

There are some notable upsides to the album, one of which is the overall singing ability. This was an expected upgrade given changes in K-pop in the past 20 years.

It was customary among first-generation idol singers to just have one good singer, as the other bandmates rap -- or do their own interpretation of what was supposed to be rap. It was also acceptable for K-pop acts to lip-synch most of their performances. But the stakes have been risen in recent years, and Sech Kies responded.

On “Another Light,” all five bandmates demonstrate at least passable singing skills. Their improvement is most apparent when leader Eun -- who became a hip-hop artist in his post-boy band days -- sings the chorus of “Smile.”

While the album is far from perfect, the band expressed hope the next album would be better.

“If we work on such chemistry with activities for the fifth album, maybe we will be able to come up with ‘our own answer’ with our next album,” he said.

“Another Light” was released at 6 p.m. Thursday.

In celebration of the album. Sechs Kies is set to hold a concert at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Saturday.

By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)