The first thing with off the menu is that their band name is one of the most generic and connected terms in Google. This makes it difficult to find out much information about them. But the good thing is that Contact is an excellent chillwave-esque, indie pop EP.
The mix of English and Korean gives it easy access to a larger audience. It also doesn’t really align with the indie pop rock that’s being produced currently. The closest band that I can think of is Adoy and the “commercial pop” that they are producing. off the menu doesn’t follow commercial pop, but it is definitely pleasant to the ears.
Another band that they bring influences from is Bye Bye Badman with highly melodic verses and vocals. I do think that the English language vocals are going to bring the band into the ears of international audiences very quickly. With their pop rock style, Contact is really big in giving listeners a laid back time. “Scene” is very much a mixture of Bye Bye Badman and also The Solutions.
This doesn’t mean that the band is unoriginal, but they have a style that is frequented by other artists. I do think that this specific indie pop rock is an easy way to capture an audience within and outside of South Korea. “Scene” being one of the EP’s singles, it makes sense that it’s also the most addictive among the tracks.
I think the strength of off the menu’s music is that it’s easily digestible. You don’t really have to think too much about the music and really just enjoy the smooth melodies. With this genre, it’s easy for the songs to start getting repetitive, either through the melodies or the consistent tempo. off the menu fall into this a bit, but do change things with “O.” Though I don’t know if they go far enough.
Contact is a good start to off the menu’s discography. I hope that the band doesn’t sit within this style forever and adds their own signature to the music. But you can’t really go wrong with the EP.
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Chris P
Korean Indie owner and Editor at Large. Constantly looking for new music and working on library parity on Spotify and YouTube Music.