Review Summary: A handful of interesting ideas with questionable execution.
Music in the Vaporwave genre, with how vintage and chill it sounds, can make for some good "zone-out" material. Whitewoods, who is probably best known for their catchy and groovy single "Beach Walk", definitely go all in when it comes to emulating this sort of 80's and 90's style of music. While adding a bit of flair to the genre, they know how to bring the funk, but they may have brought a bit too much of it on this record. To start, I can say for sure that the duo definitely knows which sounds, samples, and/or instrumentals go well with one another for the most part. It radiates with a vintage-like sound all over, which both helps and hurts this record in the long run. In regards to the lyrical content, there's not too much going on since most of the songs are relatively short and are structurally small, but they do display some purpose and narrative in each track. Although, if we were speaking from a technical standpoint, the vocalist sounds alright with their better performances being on tracks like "Fantasy Mind" and "Pizza PoWWow".
I can appreciate the vintage and Lo-fi aesthetic the songs have going for it, but it has a few glaring flaws. Some of the songs here have a tendency of having a war with themselves instrumentally. On tracks like "DMT Mother" and "Beat Street", the vocals and the beats/samples don't seem to mix well with each other and sounds overwhelming to listen to. I also had a rough time grasping what exactly "Jam 2 Slow" is supposed to sound like exactly since most of the sounds here clash and don't mesh well together. As a result, it forms an incohesive song/interlude and it sticks out like a sore thumb among the rest of the tracks. Not to mention the distorted and vintage-like qualities render it slightly harder to hear the vocalist at times, resulting in themselves being drowned out among the mix. Whether that was the intention or not, it's quite tough to make out which quality of a song is trying to stand out from another.
Despite its flaws, a handful of the other songs are pretty solid and, opposite to what I mentioned earlier, are mixed relatively well. "Soft Heat", for example, may be a structurally simple song, but the vocals mixed with the background beats make for a pretty groovy and energetic tune. Also on "Beach Walk", Whitewoods manages the vocal and instrumental mix well and utilize sound panning perfectly to simulate the distorted vibe it's trying to achieve. And lastly, for how short "Fantasy Mind" is, it sure has an infectious beat and I can't help but jam out to it every once in a while. Most of the songs have at least some of these traits but the apparent lack of mixing is what holds some of the other songs back. When all is said and done though, why a handful of the songs have a gap in terms of their overall qualities still baffles me. I suppose if you focus less on the specifics, you can easily tune it out. All in all, Half of them sound fantastic and half of them sound a bit sub-par. If the inconsistencies between songs were fixed and if the mixing were consistent among each track, I think it would've made for a more enjoyable experience. Regardless, if you're looking for something to just sit back and zone out to, I recommend giving this one a shot.
Overall Rating: 3/5
Standout Tracks: Misery Loves, Beach Walk, Fantasy Mind, Be Home Free
