With their second EP, the weirdly mercurial
AWE
, Korea-based Japanese girl group
XG
("extraordinary girls") returned to Japan's Top Three (and Korea's Top 15) with their dramatic blend of dance-pop, smooth R&B, and hip-hop.
reaches cinematic heights at times, including with its shimmery, orchestral synth intro track, "Howl." It lends a Halloween-y atmosphere to the proceedings even before the eerie, strutting raps of "Howling," a song with human-, animal-, and electronics-aided howls. The mood brightens on songs such as the urgent "IYKYK," which leans into melodic R&B, and on the U.S. dance hit "Something Ain't Right," an uplifting, house-injected track despite its unsettled lyrics. The EP introduces space themes before it's over, and no less than eight guests are featured on the paranoid, over-six-minute "WOKE UP REMIXX," but when the more intimate and optimistic "IS THIS LOVE" closes the set list, it ultimately overtakes any sense of foreboding. ~ Marcy Donelson