Album Review: Dreamcatcher's Summer Holiday
For as much as I love Dreamcatcher, you would have thought that at this point I would have written an album review and yet this is the first one. Dreamcatcher knows and loves me, apparently, as they’ve put out a music video that just works for my Korean Summer Horror.
I’m a sucker for anything theatrical, and it’s one of the driving forces on why I love Dreamcatcher so much. They stick to a theme and do it well, and I think their collaboration with LEEZ and Ollounder pays off because they seem to like to work on these more theatrical pieces (you hear this in some of their other works with other artists such as ATEEZ), and they get to play around a lot with the musical styles because Dreamcatcher can pull off different styles. They are just inherently doing a different thing than most of kpop, and it allows a lot of creative freedom. Summer Holiday while a stand-alone album, incorporates a lot of Dreamcatcher’s earlier songs and sounds, with a lot of the nods seen especially in the title track. Each of the b-side tracks have their own summer flare to them, and while they work really well as singular songs they make up a really great full roundup of summer feelings, almost like the emotions you go through having a summer fling.
01. Intro
I love that the ‘Intro’ sounds like it’s at an abandoned theme park, or a boardwalk with the wind/water sounds in the background. The emptiness of hearing the echoing of the single pair of footsteps ties in nicely with the creepiness of the title and is a great way to introduce ‘BEcause’. If I were to make a story based on this alone, it’s the opening of a store on the boardwalk. The bell ringing sounds like a door opening, the empty steps around the store with no customers; opening it up for the summer season.
02. BEcause (title)
I don’t want to go too deep into the music video and keep this centered on the song, but I will say that this is currently my favorite music video they’ve put out. It’s objectively their best, with probably the most budget put behind it. But besides that, part of what I like about the music video is how well it pairs with the song. While I do think a lot of their other releases work well, this one is the closest to what is going on with the song specifically with music elements and I think that it really creates a great musical experience. They use a lot of their doppelganger personas in the music video (which is a reoccurring theme from other music videos, despite this album being a one-off and not necessarily part of any of the arcs), but I think it plays into the doll-like actions they have and kind of mimics the playfulness of a carnival/vaudeville song.
Dami’s rap works really well with its mechanical run-down distortion and crunchy noise that help play into that fake doll/doppelganger concept and the added background sound clips are great with the song’s obsessive love lyrics. The chorus isn’t as strong as we normally see in their songs, but I really liked that it’s more reserved. It leans into that melodic carnival/music toy music and their voices kind of match. When I first saw their teasers I thought that maybe this comeback would be about sirens, and in a way the song does with its haunting and luring melody. SuA having a lot of the heavier rock belting is a nice change, I’ve always thought her voice was great in that range and allowed ‘BEcause’ to be different than some of the other songs that use Siyeon’s vocals in those areas and allowed Siyeon to get the softer melodies.
03. Airplane
While ‘Airplane’ might not be my favorite off the album, it has been growing on me the more I replay it. It’s a lot brighter and happier and really strays away from the carnival/creepy to a happier summer holiday. It’s got some 80’s synth underlying, but it’s really is closer to some older kpop groups. Dreamcatcher is a fan of groups like Girls Generation, and it reminds me of something that is a nod to older girl group songs. Would this be on a teen rom-com soundtrack? Absolutely. It’s a lot of fun and poppy and translates to the feelings of a young romance where everything seems to give you butterflies and are willing to go anywhere, as long as you are with the person.
04. Whistle
‘Whistle’ really is the perfect song to put on a summer road trip playlist. Dami’s part in this is one of my favorites, I love when they use her for vocal lines as her voice has grown a lot not just in her rapping. I really don’t know what to say about this one, it’s just…good. Like really good. I would say this has a place in the top favorite b-sides. I like how they play up the whistle part in the background, to the point that it is its own vocal line. Will you get what I mean when I say that this sounds like a sunset? I don’t know how to describe what I mean by that, but it’s got that freeing feeling of the day finally being over. Out of all the songs, this is the closest to the vibe of a summer festival.
05. Alldaylong
Did I expect a city pop song from Dreamcatcher? No. Have I always secretly wanted one? Yes. And to top it off it’s one where JiU worked on. The one thing that Dreamcatcher is really good at is their vocals, and this song showcases that. It strays away from the power pop they tend to go with in their title tracks and allows them to use a really light breathy voice. JiU, Yoohyeon, and Handong especially shine in this range. Is saying their breathy vocal qualities remind me of a windy night on the beach a stretch and looking too hard into things? Maybe. But I kind of think that was its intent.
This is by far my favorite ballad that Dreamcatcher has ever done. To really experience how beautiful this song is, throw in a pair of headphones and close your eyes. The soft guitar line in the background. The vocals. They don’t do ballads a lot, but I love when they do. The build-up is nice on this one, starts off very low and light and rises and backs off when it needs to. The emotions are raw and the girls pull off a great rock ballad.
I feel like I’ve said this before, but Dreamcatcher has some of the best b-sides and while I think that Dreamcatcher is starting to get out of that underrated spot for their main title songs, they are definitely underrated in how solid of a b-side lineup they have. They always play around with their sound, and can adapt well within the different genres. If you aren’t listening to their b-sides you are missing out on a lot. Summer Holiday did what all the other Dreamcatcher albums have done, and delivered solidly great varied songs.
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