TXT’s new (full) album weighs in at eight tracks and a paltry twenty-one minutes. This brevity isn’t unique to TXT and I don’t mean to call them out specifically, but it’s representative of choices the K-pop industry is currently making. So much effort seems to go into everything surrounding the music, even as the actual songs grow shorter and less developed. In this case, that effort includes music videos for each of the members’ solo tracks. In keeping with the truncated nature of the album, I’ll be writing mini reviews for each song as the videos are released.

Despite many of TXT’s title tracks carrying a more upbeat energy, they also have a deep well of slower, more pensive material. This sound is occasionally striking and very effective (Nap Of A Star and Ghosting remain all-time highlights) but can also tip into dreary dullness. Bird Of Night falls closer to the latter. Taehyun’s vocal fits this sound so well and the dreamy texture is effective, but the song doesn’t really go anywhere. Rather than an undeniable highlight, we’re left with a fragile tone poem that feels more like connective tissue on a generally hesitant album.

Grade: C