MUSIC FROM THE MAILBAG:
Hi, everyone! I hope you guys are all doing well. Since I’ve been receiving a variety of records in my inbox, I decided it would be a fun opportunity to expand my parameters and give reviews to smaller or undiscovered artists. There's some really great talent across these three projects, and here are some of my thoughts on the records that were sent to me!
I Need Some Rest -LJA
This is the second solo EP from Hoboken, NJ singer-songwriter LJA, sent to the bazzreviews mailbox a little while back. On the record, he speaks on his struggles with chronic illness and mental health. Released on June 5 of this year, this record was one that definitely surprised me with its quality. Despite being such a small artist, hes shows such panache with many of his lyrical themes and production value across the record. If I had to pick some of my favorites, the leadoff “Bedroom Novels,” the Radiohead-esque “In Silence,” “Dead Love,” and “One Can Only Dream,” are ones that come to mind. Though there’s definitely a lot of potential across the album, I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of the cuts “It’s Just Different,” “Forgetting You Slowly,” and “Eyes of Kindness.” To me, these three cuts sound a little more flat-footed than the others. Rather than hearing aspects of the song developing, they have a lot of whimsical compositional choices- “forced experimentation” - if you will. You keep waiting and waiting for something to progress, but unfortunately, nothing really comes around. I think what might have suited Lou better would have been to keep the four or five best songs for this EP, because it would have allowed him to show off the best of his musical range. Other than that, I think it’s a pretty solid outing with some relistening value!
Trustblood- H. Moon
This is a solo album from Swedish musician Philip Ekström, which he is releasing under a special moniker, H. Moon. Philip has been involved with various bands over the years, most notably serving as founder and the lead singer of Swedish dream pop quartet The Mary Onettes. The ideas from this record, according to a press release, happened while he was working on the score for an American feature film about break-ups and separation; he was experiencing a time of similar changes himself. Ekström released the album on May 22, and was sent to me by the press team over at Force Field PR. I was actually really surprised with the quality of the music on this record, and it definitely reminds me a lot of Beach House’s work back on Teen Dream and Bloom. According to Ekström, he described the songs as being “small, dark, melodic ghosts from his soul,” and that description is really spot-on. If the production isn’t saying that, the lyrics most certainly are. You see this on the title track, “Play Me Seldom Chords” “Back to Where it Hurts,” (probably the Beach House-iest of the bunch), “Devotion,” “Good Grief,” and the 1-2 punch at the end of the record with “Life In the Soil” and “Golden.” I think the only two songs that feel like more of a distraction and didn’t add all that much to the record as a whole were “Sparks of An End,” “Exile of Magic.” After listening to Trustblood, I’m very excited to check out some of Ekström’s past projects and see how he has progressed as a musician.
I’ll Be Alright EP- Tomemitsu
Tomemitsu is the dream pop project of West Coast musician Martin Roark, who dropped an EP in late May. Roark has a little bit of clout built up at this point already, as two of his tracks have been used on the soundtrack of HBO's critically-acclaimed show, High Maintenance. I think as a whole, the three full-length cuts on here (“I’ll Be Alright,” “Strange Vibes and“Secrets”) are all really sharp. Out of the three, I loved “Strange Vibes” the most. There’s a nice mellowness in the instrumentals, and Roark’s vocal delivery is very soothing also. That being said, I left this EP feeling a little empty. I wish there was a little more content on display, because we have two purely instrumental cuts on here. They served as the opener and closer of the project, and I did not really care for either. I believe one of those interludes could have been scrapped, or he could keep the two interludes but supplement that with another full track. In my eyes, it’s like highway robbery to market I’ll Be Alright it an EP rather than a bigger single, you know?
Thanks so much for checking this piece out, and I hope all of you will keep these records on your listening radar in coming times! I'd also like to give another big thanks to Daniel Gill over at Force Field PR for consistently sending me demos- means a lot to keep someone like me on your press list. And to all you creative cats out there- if there's any music submissions you'd like me to review, you can send all the content to bazzreviews@gmail.com. I would be happy to check it out! In the meantime, keep your eyes out for more BR content coming down the road!
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