Review Summary: It's summer. Relax.
So what is a perfect summer, feelings-wise？ You are probably by the pool, you feel the warmth, but you are not sweating all your bodily liquids out to a point of feeling disgusting, you are in a state of absolute calm and quiet, you feel young and as though everything is yet in front of you, all the meaningless worries, momentary loves and troubles like “where do I party next?” This is the feeling Kali Uchis conveys.
I am not much of a summer person; my skin is too sensitive to sun and when tanned I look silly. I am not a young person either and barely anything nowadays is capable of making me feel full of energy and hope for the future as once before (unless, of course, it is some kind of trip down the Nostalgia Lane). In those two aspects this album excels. It is a party welcoming anyone to be a mindless young romantic just for a moment.
That is indeed thanks to the lyrics, but above all thanks to the musical arrangement. In fifteen tracks you feel increasingly engulfed in all the weightlessness and carefree tranquillity. You find yourself at a pool party high on the mere enjoyment of the moment, rather than any drugs. The mixture of echoic production, occasional minimalistic synths, pulpy mellow beats, electrifying bass, cleverly masked strings and Kali’s soft and loveable vocals is what makes this album. But it never turns into commercial background music, even though it seems like it might any minute.
Even when the topic of discussion is quite serious like on “Tomorrow”, it still comes off as a celebration more than a commiseration. It is as if the album is telling you that everything you worry about is not all that important, because in a couple of years you will see it all as a bad joke worth only a smirk, because right now you should be just a happy, rad person.
