Nell Slip Away Review

"Oh, AKF isn't going to review Nell and Leessang. He said the same thing about T-ara's Lovey Dovey MV, but he never bothered to review the 30 minute MV." I know some people out there thought that, but I actually did write my Nell review.



Finally. Just like m-flo fans had to wait five years, Nell fans had to wait four years for another album to come out. That's what happens when everyone doesn't enlist at the same time. Is this album as good as some of their older albums? No. I thought Seperation Anxiety was a better album. Still, it's from Nell, and even a "good" album from them is much better than a lot of groups' best.

The Ending: A great track to start off the album. The lyricism from Kim Jong Wan is top notch as usual, though the instrumental really stole my attention in the song. It is a bit long at 6 minutes and 30 seconds, but the track doesn't seem to drag or seem repetitive despite the same lyrics repeating over and over.

Go: Another good song, but should have been placed elsewhere in the album. It's along the same vain as The Ending, being six minutes long and having a similar structure to The Ending. So, when listening to the album in full, it can really feel like the first song is 12 minutes long.

In Days Gone By: The first two songs give off the usual Nell vibe, but the third song gives off more of an acoustic vibe that's too prevalent in Korean indie music. The song differs from the first two in that same set of lyrics aren't repeated throughout the song. It feels like a regular song. The song is good, but really lacks the build up needed to make the song more memorable.

그리고, 남겨진 것들: I didn't feel this song when it came out. It just feels so underwhelming for a title track from Nell. Listening to it again months later is better since I'm listening to it with the other songs. It sounds similar to In Days Gone By but with a more "mainstream" instrumental.

Standing in the Rain: The beginning to slow with some hand claps to set the tone, but about a minute in and the song kicks it up a notch. This is the first track that got me excited while listening to the album. The lyrics are melancholy (like all Nell songs are), but the vibe is this one gets the listener, I don't know, feeling less depressed while listening to the song.

Loosing Control: No, I didn't make that typo. Nell did. Okay? This song is wriitten entirely in English, and Jong Wan has can enunciate English well enough so that you're not like "Did he say election or erection?" Another song that stays in its slow tempo throughout the whole song. Luckily, at four minutes, the song feels short so it's not to the point where I'm thinking "Is the same thing gonna repeat over and over?"

Beautiful Stranger: The first part to the one-two punch in this album. In short, this song is great. The instrumental just captivates me whenever I listen to it, and there are times where I don't even pay attention to the lyrics, even though they're in English. Kim Jong Wan's English lyrics are good, but his lyricism is much better in Korean. While he uses simplistic lines in English, well, honestly, they're still better than the stuff you hear on KISS FM.

Cliff Parade: My favorite song in the album. To be honest, the song seems underwhleming at first, but after Jong Wan says "let it crash," the instrumental gets a lot more interesting. This is one of those songs where in the instrumental carries it. For most of the song, all you hear is "let it crash." That's fine by me, as it shows some variety in the album by allowing an instrumental carry a song with sparse lyrics. Just like in m-flo's Square One, where I really enjoyed the songs where Taku's instrumentals were center stage, I enjoy this song for the same reason.

Hopeless Valentine: Well, any song after the favorite song in the album is going to feel a bit disappointing. Another solid song from Nell, and it does go well after Cliff Parade. It has about the same tempo as Cliff Parade, while most albums would have put a slow tempo right after Cliff Parade to set up for the final song. This is another track where the instrumental carries the song, especially in the second half of the song. It's pleasant to listen to and fits well with the lyrics.

Slip Away: As expected, the album ends with a ballad-esque song. I didn't like it. The lyrics are good as usual, but the instrumental doesn't convey the same sadness as the lyrics do, which left me bored while listening to it. Not the best way to end an album.

Overall, another excellent album from Nell, with its main flaw being the order in which the songs are played in. The Ending and Go feel like one song and In Days Gone By and 그리고, 남겨진 것들 sound like one song when listening to the album. It really did feel like I had only listened to two songs in the first 24 or so minutes. I believe the album redeemed itself start from Standing in the Rain through Hopeless Valentine. Those songs took what could have been a mediocre album by Nell's standards to yet another great album. I thought Slip Away was too weak to end on and wish there was another song to end the album. Slip Away isn't a bad song, it's just a bad way to end this album.

Anyway, here's to hoping we don't have wait another four years for another Nell album. Also, Kim Jong Wan needs to lose some weight. He's getting fat and I don't want Nell's next album to be about him longing for food instead of the normal songs he usually writes.