NAIL

One of my favourite things about seeing groups go solo is seeing the freaky shit the members go off and do now that they’re free to do what they want. The Beatles, 1D, BTS, you see it happen with all the big names, and LOONA has been no different. In particular Yves has been the one I’m most intrigued by, given she’s pretty solidly the breakout star of the group, and the one most actively releasing music, with this EP of hers, NAIL, being her most recent release.

And for this EP especially I would like to emphasize that freaky, as Yves takes her biggest musical leap yet into doing alternative music. These songs have an incredibly otherworldly feel to them, like I’d expect these to be playing at some niche underground alien club. The simple and, mostly, Lofi beats paired with Yves’ soft-spoken and reverberated vocals make for a very unique sonic experience, that leaves me with a lust for more.

It almost feels like an act of cuckery that this EP is so short, with only 5 tracks, but it’s a great example of quality over quantity. “It” is this perfect mix of vibes and vocal beauty that becomes an allure into the rest of the EP. “HALO” is the most relaxed song here, and that Lofi production mixed with a vague club ambience becomes this really unearthly experience. “NAIL” brings on guest vocalist Lolo Zouaï and while I think this carries on the vibe really well, it might be my least favourite, mainly because I’m just not super big on the vocals, they sound off in a way I can’t place. “Break it” also features a guest vocalist, in Lexie Liu, though this song works so much better for me. Yves and Lexie’s wistful performances over extremely y2k production, I really love it. And then the EP closes on “birth”, which is another really nice vibe, but I don’t really have anything much more to say about it, it’s just really nice.

This is a really good EP, and such a great development of sound for Yves. I’m not sure what to expect, but I can’t wait for whatever her debut album will be like whenever she gets around to it, though with releases like this, maybe I can hold on a little longer.

Favourite Tracks:
Break It, HALO, It

Least Favourite Track:
NAIL

Best 3 Track Run:
HALO —> NAIL —> Break It