The Singles Jukebox

We scored this one in Astronomical Units…

[Video][Website]
[7.36]

Madeleine Lee: When I heard Ladies’ Code was coming back a year and a half after the car accident that killed two of their members, I was skeptical. Not that I thought it would be bad — their singles as five were consistently exceptional — but I didn’t think it was appropriate. But then, I had no idea what was appropriate. Plenty of third-wave idol groups have come back after losing members, but not after a member’s death, let alone a member’s death that triggered industry-wide mourning. “Galaxy” is what I didn’t know I wanted, and exactly what this comeback should be. The triangle theme of the packaging is a little heavy-handed, but the song itself, all air and fire and water, is not. It doesn’t try to hide its context, but it resists sinking under its weight; the brief trip into jazz as Sojung sings “will you pull me from the gravity” really does sound like being released from gravity for a moment. And more than anything, I didn’t realize just how good it would be to hear Ashley, Zuny, and Sojung sing again.
[10]

Micha Cavaseno: Ignoring the tragic backstory of Ladies’ Code — which makes this song extra somber — “Galaxy” is such an off-putting song. At first, it seems like a mess of ectoplasmic afterbirth for the plunging sort of dreamy R&B one would associate in the United States with the likes of Jhene Aiko. Yet suddenly, the song seems to drag itself out of its slumber into that sinewy rare-groove styled chorus and these girls seem like a trio of modern day N’Dea Davenports briskly flicking the sleep sand out their eyes and grabbing whomever in the disconnect of space regardless of fear and apprehension. “Galaxy” feels much like the coven-soul of Red Velvet’s “Automatic,” but whereas the latter were overwhelmed and afraid of the hunger they sang of, Ladies’ Code deal with a craving for oxygen and light with a longing that holds some deeper more weighty need.
[10]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: The moment that bass-heavy beat and those synth flourishes enter the scene, you’re already under their spell. But then the chorus comes in, and the source of this song’s power — the velvety funk of the guitar/bass combination — reveals itself. It’s an impressive move from Ladies’ Code, a band that was sadly struck by tragedy in 2014, to come back with such a beautifully layered, gracefully nostalgic R&B track. From any other group in a similar situation we could have gotten an upbeat, rise-from-the-ashes dance track, or worse, a tear-jerking ballad, but these girls proved they’re better than that. Also, that walking contrabass in the last chorus just made me lose my shit completely. 
[8]

Jonathan Bogart: Utterly gorgeous nostalgia for spacey late-’70s R&B, with acoustic instrumentation, Moogish textural burbling, and some of the most exquisite phrasing I’ve heard in K-pop. I’m often suspicious of current music that plays to my most-revered sounds of the past, but this is so well done, and such a rhythmically taut reverie, that it got past my defenses before I’d even noticed.
[8]

Cassy Gress: The synth strings bobbing to the surface are oddly muffled-sounding. I understand what they were going for here with the universe/galaxy metaphor and the synthetic jazz track, but this melody sounds to me like it belongs on a more uptempo, brassier track. That’d require a complete rework, but I wanted to hear that version so badly that my brain was snapping at them, “PICK UP THE PACE PLEASE.” In the last minute or so, some acid jazz drums and upright jazz bass show up, just overlaid atop the rest of the track and sounding out of place.
[5]

Alfred Soto: While the synth stabs recall late ’80s Vanessa Williams, the skill with which the vocalists step up and back and to the side is their own. The plushness isn’t a galaxy so much as a reflecting pool with colored stones.
[7]

Sonia Yang: Deliciously more downtempo than what I was expecting, “Galaxy” manages to be danceable while keeping a laid-back air. The song makes good use of space (pun intended), and the swirly chimes are a nice touch.
[6]

Jonathan Bradley: Ladies’ Code start “Galaxy” off as slinky and contemporary R&B, but, by the first chorus, they’ve transformed into a sumptuous lounge act, the jazz-funk arrangement expanding like a spotlight. It’s very smooth, and very well-played: I’d raise a glass at the end.
[6]

Will Adams: Like me and this song, the verse and chorus are at an impasse. One side offers gorgeous dream&B, like aural lava lamp bubbles; the other goes double time and clutters the space with a jazz band. Ladies’ Code do their best to mediate, which just tips me toward a higher score.
[6]

Patrick St. Michel: This is kind of a slightly larger-budget version of a feel Neon Bunny explored recently, as Ladies’ Code explore infatuation, the verses moving in slow motion as a way to emphasize the nerves at the center of this. The key difference is the hook lets in a little celebration, picking up the pace ever so slightly. 
[7]

Brad Shoup: So: they reference dropping oxygen levels, an endless emergency, and the pull of a black universe. All this is set against a track of elegant stop-start jazz/funk: Soojung matches the elegance on the refrain, but there’s a remove from everyone. It’s a reverie that tracks with the boutique production: the drums pounds rivets, to which the synths and harplike piano are so much pinned silk.
[8]