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The album in the reviewing spotlight today is TXT’s Minisode1: Blue Hour, the group’s 3rd mini-album since their debut. This mini-album was released back at the end of the October and has been sitting on my list of albums/songs to review for quite some time now. And I thought I try to clear off the October albums (whilst also balancing some November and December albums) now before the year ends. Minisode1: Blue Hour features the title track Blue Hour and four other new songs. Let’s see what I thought about these four songs, and the album overall.

1. Ghosting – Many side tracks in this half of 2020 are creating really appealing atmosphere to listen to and Ghosting is another addition to this long list. The song brings sleekness, thanks to the upbeat tempo within the indie rock instrumentation. In addition to that, the sleekness and indie rock also really allowed the members to show off some husky and raspy vocals, which definitely compliment the song as a whole. The melodies were super easy to get into and enjoy. (9/10)

2. Blue Hour (5 시 53 분의 하늘 에서 발견한 너와 나) – Click here to read the full review of Blue Hour. (8.5/10)

3. We Lost the Summer (날 씨를 잃어 버렸어) – I know there is a music video for this release and I have put this music video onto a list of music videos to have a look in a future ‘Missed Review’ segment. In the meanwhile, we proceed with the song review. We Lost the Summer is a tropical house song. It is a rather clean track. When it first started, I registered it as a TXT song, thanks to the familiarity of their vocals. But unfortunately, I thought the song was rather dull and lacked energy or drive. It felt like a song release by any other male group in KPOP, especially with the tropical sound that inundated KPOP a few years back. I was waiting for some sort of dynamic change in the music to really sweep me off my feet. But it never delivered. (6/10)

4. Wishlist – Wishlist captures my attention from the very first second thanks to those very deep and dramatic thumping in the background. But that was just the start of the song. When it came to the chorus, Wishlist throws all of this fast tempo and upbeat energy right at you, resembling the type of energy you would expect for an epic pop rock track. It felt exhilarating for me and reminded me of a few pop tracks I continually dig for in my playlists. Wishlist shows off really strong vocals, which is required in order to be heard on top of the instrumentation. Overall, Wishlist is my pick for best side track from this mini-album. (10/10)

5. Way Home (하굣길) – Way Home is the final song on the album. I was a little hesitant with the song at first. It does overwhelm with its synth/trap instrumental as the background. There is also this off beat aesthetic approach at the start of the verses. But like most songs, Way Home gets better with time. I am not 100% sold on the song yet, but Way Home has its moments. I am impressed with the vocals, and also am glad that the song contains some rap (which has been noticeably absent from the side tracks album thus far). (8/10)

Overall Album Rating – 8.3/10