[#37] Rainbow - "Golden Touch"

From: "RAINBOW SYNDROME" (Part 1)
Released: February
Territory: South Korea
Previous Best of Entries: 2011: [#30] "Sweet Dream"
Other notable song(s) from 2013: "Kiss Me", "Don't Touch", "기다릴게"

Even if "Gossip Girl" is one of those unforgettably bad debuts, Rainbow definitely redeemed themselves with their succeeding releases and do have some great songs to their repertoire. Which is why I was disappointed in their lead singles this year -- they did Rainbow, and the album tracks they accompanied, absolutely no justice. Both parts of "Rainbow Syndrome" had several gems in them, none of which were the lead singles. I was actually surprised that I was having a hard time choosing which song to put on the countdown.

But I think I made the right choice with "Golden Touch", because it's that middle ground between what I want Rainbow to be musically, and the cutesy image DSP push for them. And it is, in itself, a really, really good song I have listened to countless times over the course of the year.

The arrangement is one of the best arrangements I've heard all year -- it's gutsy in all the right places, with a sharp drum line, a bit playful here and there with the trumpets, but it's all very, very smooth. There are punches, very obvious ones like the ones at the bridge, but the flow of the song and how the transitions go is in a league of it's own. You know the song is changing, developing, but from beginning to end you know you're listening to the same song. It's confident, and because of that it's not afraid to run around all over the place with all these quirky instruments.

While the arrangement drew me in, what keeps this song interesting is how the melody interacts with the elements -- this isn't a song that has a flat melody and a crazy arrangement, and this isn't one that has a flat arrangement and a wild melody, this is a song where the melody and arrangement are on the same page. This is clearest in the bridges -- in those short melodic lines on top of equally short trumpet/drum combinations -- and is just as clear in the over-all structure of a song. Add to that the fact that "Golden Touch" has undeniable punch to it, and this is something you don't find very often in K-Pop these days.

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