Category: Album – 10 tracks, runtime – 26 min
Genre: Alté, R&B
Release Date: 03.October.2024
Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ – 8.8/10
Going into our initial listen, our sights were clear. We weren’t trying to ascertain if the tunes on here are any good. Since this is a MAUIMØON joint, that was a foregone conclusion. Bro has cheat codes within his own formula. He’s mastered a thing or two about replicating it. And this is in no way some impressionable gushing from us, it’s objectively backed up. With that in mind, our main inquiry into the project was whether he’s only played it safe or he’s bared himself to some real risk that presents a realistic chance of artistic detriment.
The first two numbers, “Wouldn’t Know” & “Mood 4 Love”, seemed to indicate a self-preservative instinct. You know, same familiar dynamics, bouncy beats & laidback crooning over a decent melody throughout a super-brief runtime. Good, but nothing unheard from him before. Of course it’s not his fault that he’s raised the threshold by which we assess him, and yet every noble crafter of art should know too well not to entertain the subtleties of complacency.
But then came “Hurts Like Heaven”, our first detection of another presence on the joint, Zowie Kengocha. Her chemistry with our main man was compelling enough to undo our earlier fears, as the pair gifted us a melodically adventurous effort. Bro’s natural laze was cast in a charming light when accented by her vocal vibrance.
This form stretched across a run of three tunes, peaking in “Dem Know”, the album’s wildest card ft Fresh Ali & Zido Ngarenaro. There’s a defiance to it that grows more pronounced with every listen, realized both structurally & productionwise. That same bold feel morphs into sheer fun on the followup, “Ready Too” on which Tai Dai shines in the support slot lending her singing chops to a delightful busy piece that’s also the most stripped down of all the tracks. Driven by strummy acoustic guitar work & muffled infantile harmonic intrusions, it evokes an unburdened playfulness that comes as a welcome refreshment from all the preceding layers on the project by this point.
The project does pick up again on its earlier suaveness for the remainder of its second half,with the second lightest feel of it all materializing on the closer “Say She Do”. Sublime sequencing, we must say, in terms of sonic motifs that is.
Otherwise, the subject matter is the same old, though we guess we can roll with that. After all, everyone has a set of favorite concepts in their arsenal, a thing of specialties, all game. The project’s altogether well strung, imperfect but that’s better than being uniformly dull & safe which, save for the opening two tracks, this joint isn’t. Psyched about where MAUIMØON takes it all from here!
