About two months ago, I gave up hope that the Every DAY6 Project would continue to be a year-long release of title track-worthy material. What started as an ambitious opportunity for the guys to display a variety of promoted songs has gradually turned into a complete-the-album b-side roll out. That would be fine, but DAY6’s b-sides used to be far more interesting than this. Three months in a row, they’ve maintained this same mopey, monotonous tone. I can only hope that the acoustic All Alone (혼자야) is the nadir in what’s feeling more and more like an indulgent pity party.

I’m sure that the song means a lot to the band, and will likely connect with many fans as well. But apart from the sentiment, All Alone just isn’t that noteworthy musically. The guys’ harmonies remain their most potent weapon, and without them the song would be lost. Stripped back to nothing but the strum of a guitar and touches of percussion (glockenspiel, anyone?), the instrumental feels designed to mostly stay out of the way and shine full focus on the vocals and lyrical content. That’s where those harmonies come in. DAY6 songs always provide immaculate vocal arrangement, and the band’s blend here is haunting and incredibly effective in drawing out the desolate mood.

If only All Alone followed suit and ventured into more interesting territory. The melody hinges on a repetitive refrain, never building to the type of emotional climax one might expect from the song’s sentiment. It’s a perfectly fine coffee-shop sort of track, but nothing that you couldn’t hear in any small town in any country. As evidenced by the second song they released this month, DAY6 have far more dynamic things to display, but more and more it’s feeling like their sense of versatility is beginning to falter.

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