[Review] EvoL ‘Second EvoLution’

EvoLwas unquestionably the most underrated rookie group of 2012. Not only was their debut release ‘We Are A Bit Different‘ one of the strongest albums I’ve heard that year, but their song ‘Magnet‘ would have easily won multiple Song of the Year awards should the group have had their due recognition. Assuming they had gone by the wayside,Stardom Entertainmentpleased and surprised the anticipatory wishes of thoseof us who cared by releasing their sophomore effort ‘Second EvoLution‘ on March 18, 2013. While the mini-album technically contains only two new songs, I am pleased to say that my glowing perception of the group has not wavered with their new material.

The headlining song, “Get Up“, is somewhat unconventional in its arrangement. The song is overall somewhat static in its harmonic and instrumental structure: a repetitious Arabic-inspired electronic instrumental pulse permeates its way throughout the entirety of the track. While this compositional technique could easily come off as boring in most cases, I think it works especially well here. Its overly-relaxed state gives the song a chill, yet grooving aura that gives the song an overall sense of cohesion.

This is cohesion is particularly important here as the vocal sections tend to not reflect one another. Similar to the structure of most rap/hip-hop songs, the basic structure is rap-refrain-rap-refrain-coda, form which the rap sections don’t necessarily relate to each other. Unlike the conventional pop song structure, one’s ear can’t easily pick up on a vocal cohesion by constant repetition of a refrain, allowing the pulse technique is especially imperative in this context.

Speaking of vocals, the performance by the group is absolutely flawless, a nod to the overall production value of the release. Raps are rhythmically interesting and decisive. The refrain section is catchy, and the rhythmic and vocal inflections of the singers match precisely the overall groove, allowing for an overall sense of cohesion between performer and instrumentals.

I can see why one may not really like this song. The prototypical K-Pop structure from which “Get Up” deviates gives the track a sense of unfulfilled completeness when it reaches its conclusion. But should the lyrics of the song be any reflection of what this song is trying to promote, it’s that this group is inherently different. Not only are they different, but this is what we want, we just can’t articulate this desire, and thus we become speechless when we hear what they are representing—thus we shouldn’t follow them if we only expect the same standardization. Despite the lyrics presenting these tropes in perhaps an overly unabashed manner, I can’t help but agree. While one can certainly argue me,EvoLhas shown thus far that they are taking K-Pop in a direction that it sorely needs to head. Take it or leave it if you will, but I’ll take it.

The next track, “LOVE“, represents just one of the many linguistically interesting things aboutEvoL’sname: it an anagram, as “LOVE” is  ”EvoL” spelt backwards. While I think this is amusing, I am generally hesitant of any song with the “love” in the title, as it usually tends to be a cheesy ballad about a romanticized teenage love melodrama. This song, sonically speaking at least, is—thankfully—as far from this musical representation as one could hope for. Somewhat more conventional than “Get Up“, this song is a heavy-hitting, synth-heavy electro-track.

While well-produced, I can’t help but view this song as as merely being filler. I find the rhythmically dispersed vocal refrain and laser synth anthem backing a bit boring to listen to after a while. Furthermore, the ending seems forced, with the laser synths being paired with a muted funk guitar, which appears as a minor role in the background prior. The ending seems incomplete, but this time in not the desirable way demonstrated a track prior. Luckily the song varies just enough sonically to middy abate these annoyances.JucyandJ-DAagain demonstrates her superior rapping skills throughout the song, though if I could give the nod toJucy. Yet this song just ceases to be memorable in any respects, and is arguably the weakest song inEvoL’sarchive of music, despite it not being a bore or chore to listen to.

The next two tracks are from their previous album. Should you be so inclined, you can read my opinions on them in myprevious review.

The mini-album also possesses a remix track of the headliner track: “Get Up (White Dress Remix)“. I dislike this remix for all the reasons that made me love the original production of “Get Up“. While it’s certainly not poorly produced, it just doesn’t seem to fit the overall content of this song and just feels messy. I’m sure I would still hate it even if I heard this before the original. So if there was a downfall of the album, it would be including this.

Overall, ‘Second EvoLution‘ is a solid follow-up release fromEvoL. While as a whole it’s technically strong as their previous mini-album release, it still blows most other K-Pop groups out of the water. Unfortunately, I doubt that they will fail to catch the attention of a wider audience to prompt any further releases on a grand scale. I could be wrong—and I do hope that I am. Yet for the moment I’m more than thrilled that a comeback was even made, and that my almost biased appraisal of the group has ceased to decline.

Rating Overview

Pros: Top-notch production, unconventional arrangement of “Get Up”, vocal meshing with overall soundscape of song, rapping is decisive and rhythmically pleasing, anagrams.

Cons: Some may not like the static nature of “Get Up”, “White Dress Remix” feels messy, “LOVE” synthesizers can get boring/annoying, confusing funk guitar ending in “LOVE”

Reviewer's Rating:(4.1 / 5)

Community Rating: 

(41votes, average:3.90out of 5)