Style: vaporwave, barber beats
Primary Emotions/Themes: a collection of lounge music that has a meditative quality to it
Thoughts: Barber beats is a curious genre to me. It's so relaxed and chill that it's easy to fall asleep to. The inherit problem with it (and a lot of other vaporwave) is that it all sounds the same. Enter Modest by Default.
Raw Practices is the first album I heard from the artist. While it does conform largely to the barber beats genre, there are several things going on here that set this creator apart from the majority in the field. The inclusion of vocals is a major part of this. Not the traditional kind with lyrics, but the added layer of male and female vocalists chanting on top of the chilled out lounge music gives it a bit of an ethereal feel.
Pacing is also one of the artists major strengths. The album is ten songs long, and each one of those is perfectly placed. While all of the music is relaxed, the songs are varied enough that the music never gets boring - one of my common criticisms of the genre. Be it small changes in instrumentation or a minor shift in the drum beat, Modest by Default knows how to change things up ever so slightly. All of this has the makings of an excellent album.
No comments:
Post a Comment