Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Final Grade: A

I love this album, start to finish.  It's sweet, short, and simple - such an easy listen.  Robin Hannibal did a wonderful job of orchestrating the whole things, and Milosh's vocals are so hypnotizing.  I was skeptical when hearing he was a man that sounded like Sade, but it works in the best way possible.  I've already hit up multiple people asking if they've heard of these guys, and I will continue to spread the love.  This record will definitely be on rotation for some time to come!

3 Days


One of Those Summer Days


Major Minor Love


Hunger


Woman


Songs of the Day

Finishing off the last 5 tracks of the record this morning: "3 Days," "One of Those Summer Days," "Major Minor Love," "Hunger," and "Woman."
Man, what a lovely little harp intro "3 Days" has!  How could you not enjoy something so pretty.  I'm glad that the groove picks up after that, because it's for sure not the direction you would expect.  The opening line "oh I'm famished, so I eat your minerals" sticks with me every time I hear it, I just love the wording of that.  As does the hook "we've got 3 days to feel each other, we've got 3 days to sing this song" - it's damn catchy.  The groove continues with the sweetness of the previous ones with the addition of the strings, and I'm all about it.  Another good one for Rhye.
Bringing it way down with "One of Those Summer Days."  I could go back to sleep right now, it's so damn relaxing.  I love that it's just Milosh and guitar in the beginning, and then the soft horns coming in rounding out the whole sound.  Again, Robin did a great job composing this piece, the layers are really entrancing.  This song could have been boring, but the well composed groove accompanied by Milosh's hypnotizing vocals keeps you locked in.  The swell to the end it really nice as well (thanks strings).  Me gusta.
"Major Minor Love" is one of my favorites on the album, for sure.  The song starts with a nice little vocal intro (which comes back around at the end).  What is it about this soft spoken (or singing, rather) man that is so hypnotizing?  This track is another that has great layering going on from start to finish.  Starts with just vocals and bass, and then come the drums and strings, so on and so forth.  I love how gentle the whole thing is, you kind of just want to sway.  And I love the concept of "some major minor love."  The small, slight electronic break towards the end is a perfect little break.  Harmonies at the end are so sweet.  Love it.
The pace steps back up on "Hunger," which is a smart after 2 rather slow tunes.  Gets you groovin again, and I'm all about that.  It's got just the right about of electronic elements in it to stand out, which I dig, while still keeping the elements that have made this album so great.  Love that there's a trombone solo in the middle!  It's short, but still, I dig it.  I'm grooving in bed, I love it.
And so we have reached the final, and title track of the album with "Woman."  It's just key bass, synth, and Milosh singing "woman" drawn out in various melodies, to then be layed by himself, strings, and final horns.  I love that "woman" is the only lyric in this song, it's all it needs.  It builds, and then it's done.  Short and sweet, and a pretty way to end the album.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Open


The Fall


Last Dance


Verse


Shed Some Blood


Songs of the Day

So seeing as I'm a little behind this week, I'm gonna go ahead and do the first half (5 tracks) of the album: "Open," "The Fall," "Last Dance," "Verse," and "Shed Some Blood."
"Open" is a really wonderful way to start off Woman.  How could you not love a string opening like this?  And it's got a great build into the verse - it's hard to resist.  Milosh has such an interesting sound to his voice.  When my friend told me he sounded like Sade, I was slightly confused, but as soon as he starts singing, Sade is instantly what you think of (and that is meant in the most positive sense).  Even though he kind of sounds like a chick, it still works.  I love how smooth the groove is, and his voice sits so gently over the simple synth and guitar lines.  Great interjection of a couple horn lines, and bringing back the strings at the end.  A really simple, sweet tune that is easy to sit back and listen to.
Since the opening track was so soft, I'm glad things picked up a little bit on "The Fall" while retaining the same sweet feel as before.  The track layers nicely, starting with the piano, then the vocals, bass, drums, and finally strings (gotta love some good strings on a track).  The doubling on Milosh's voice works great with the groove as well - it beefs up his soft voice just enough.  Robin Hannibal (talk about an unfortunate last name) - the instrumentalist of this duo - did a great job of orchestrating all of these pieces together.  I was happy to hear a little bit of an instrumental section that was able to show off his composition skills.  And how can you resist a song that starts out with "make love to me" in a world that's saturated with songs about "fucking bitches?"  Another solid tune.
"Last Dance" keeps the the groove going, but in its own way, which I really enjoy.  It's got this funkier feel going on with the bass, guitar, and synth sound, and of course the horns (while I think they're programmed) add to that feel.  Something about Milosh's voice is so hypnotizing, like I'm listening to a lullaby - I can't get enough of it.  Dig dig dig.
We come back down a little bit with "Verse," but I'm all about it.  This groove, while having many elements, has a stripped down essence to it that I really like.  And again with these strings - so pretty! Love that Milosh has some bigger harmonies going on on this track, you know how I luh me some good harmonies.  Sheesh, this track is almost too relaxing.  The only complaint I have about Milosh's voice is that sometimes it's hard to understand what he's singing because he is so soft spoken.  I don't really care though, because everything else works so well.  Solid, once again.
"Shed Some Blood" gets back into the funkier feeling we had going on in "Last Dance," and I dig it.  I love how Robin and Milosh have managed to have this soft feel while retaining a funky feel. The guitar and bass grooves really hold this one down, which I am all about "Don't call me 'love' unless you mean it" - PREACH, HONEY!  These tracks are all really short, but the perfect kind of short, the easy kind of short.  So into all of it.