NMIXX runs around and charges all of their strengths into showcasing a sense of improvement. There may be still some underwhelming aspects across the EP, ‘Fe3O4: BREAK’ offers some stickier melodies across various genre intrigues.
For a K-Pop act that has been established to mix genres under the ‘MIXX POP’ term coined after the criticism for one of their tracks that blends in differing genres together, NMIXX still has some ways to go in terms of delving deeper into genre blending that hasn’t exactly come off as novel in today’s musical climate where genres themselves are easily embellished into so many nooks and crannies. Their past few singles alongside their debut EP represent that ‘MIXX POP’ term in its tamest, with production and melodies that might not come off exactly overproduced but the overall palette and execution of these rather dated 2010’s electropop and trap pop shows NMIXX still in their way to find some quality crossovers with sounds and styles that they’ll come across in the future. Allow them to create some mix that at least showcases more variation in where they’ll come up next.
In ‘Fe3O4: BREAK’, this newest EP does present NMIXX digging further into this ‘MIXX POP’ concept going on around their sound, one that brings more elastic vocal stamps on the members alongside nudging up the production power, coinciding with the EP’s themes surrounding passion and strength that does encapsulate what the EP is now going for. On the topic of genre swerves landing effectively, there are a couple of cuts that show some snappier results through neatly constructed melodies. ‘DASH’ with its bouncy touch is a great opener, bringing along old-school percussion with some neatly placed orchestral hits and slick bass lines. It creates a potent tune that allows NMIXX to ride that instrumentation, putting their energetic cadence on it that’s able to match the instrumental's swaggering tone. The rest of the highlights, while not matching the excellent opener, still have enough styles that work well regardless. ‘Passionfruit’ might as well be an act of catching up with the UK Garage production trend, but the peppy synth melodies swooping around the vocal cooings are still effective regardless. ‘Sonar (Breaker)’ and ‘Run For Roses’ do present the upfront genre swerves on the entire EP. The former cut’s latin pop grooves and UK Garage switch-ups still work amidst the rather flat marching drums and grand vocal swells on the pre-chorus, and the latter cut’s overall instrumental texture is a bit flat and thin, especially with the bombastic sonic push on the chorus, but the swaggering americana at least provides some neat distinctive tone for the EP.
Yet for all of the doubling down towards what NMIXX is going for, there are still the mostly plain trap pop and electropop that are blemished on some of the cuts here. Not that they are rather bad all the way through, because while their production can get hit and miss due to the bass mixing and the synthetic textural blend, there are still some passing notes there that cut through. The chorus on ‘BOOM’ does at least sound well composed and the bassy bounce and DJ scratching on ‘XOXO’ has some nice low-end groove. Yet those dated production notes do come through on the better tracks of the EP, making the EP start strong and end on a bit of a tepid note.
‘Fe3O4: BREAK’ is an EP that deepens the girl group's exploration within more sounds and styles that they are going for, most of which succeeds more than it fails where they do manage to bring more vocal flair and melodic punch amidst some plain mainstream trap pop and electropop production notes that oversees the better aspects of the EP. It is not enough to render them shattering edges of their comfort zone, but the best parts that are provided here is at least an effort for the group to break out and find wilder experimentation with splendid results than underwhelming flubs.
Favorite Tracks: ‘DASH’, ‘Sonar (Breaker)’, ‘Passionfruit’, ‘Run For Roses’
Least Favorite Track: ‘XOXO’