Review Summary: I caught a feeling - let's keep the motion.
Debuts with a firm sense of vision and purpose deserve a lot more credit than they usually get, and Ravyn Lenae's
Hypnos is no exception. Now, this isn't Lenae's first dive into the music realm, per se - the girl's been working on EPs, mixtapes, and singles ever since she was 16, so she's had time to refine her sound and build her way up to
Hypnos. But make no mistake: regardless of experience, a debut is a debut, and a debut with a clear vision and a clearer
sound is a pleasant breath of fresh air, especially since so many eager, earnest debuts often wear their influences on their sleeves to the point of being defined - and restricted - by them. But
Hypnos never falters from nor gets too lost in the "2000's RnB with 90's Neo-Soul" template that it begins and ends with, and it's all the better for it as a result.
The funky, low-down opener "Cameo" kicks things off perfectly, a Prince-like crooner with a slithering synth bassline punctuated by a minimalist, waltzy drum beat, stop-and-go guitar chords, and Lenae's trademark, sky-high soprano vocals that drift in and out of the mix with a steady ease. You can hear the 2000's RnB snake its way through the entire record, from the arpeggiated harps, boxy percussion, and tender strings of the Sade-esque "Inside Out" to the buttery-smooth, beautiful "Skin Tight", the coolheaded, sexy, D'Angelo-esque crooner "Light Me Up", and the Neptunes-styled urban elegance of the driven, jazzy "Satellites". It's a sleek and sensual sound that sharply defines the album and keeps
Hypnos consistent and grounded throughout its (admittedly somewhat-bloated) runtime.
Lenae sticking so thoroughly to such a distinctive sound makes the small moments when she shifts gears and tries something else stand out
that much more. The atonal, chirping synths, sleek electric piano, and minor-key melody present in "Venom" imbues the strangely sinister track with a ton of bite, and the dreamy-yet-energetic album highlight "M.I.A." coasts by on an Afrobeat groove of dexterous percussion, heavenly synth pads, and the dulcet tones of Lenae's impeccably-stacked vocal harmonies. The sound design on this record is utterly superb, full of sonic delights like the overmodulated electric pianos and spacey synth lines on the weightless "Lullabye" or the chamber-echo dancehall beat in the quiet, resonant "Xtasy". This is as much a showcase of Lenae's vocals and songwriting process as it is for the production wizardry of the (numerous) credited producers on this record. The fact that the album manages to sound so consistent and tight across the board in spite of having a menagerie of producers is also genuinely impressive.
Any personal issues I had with
Hypnos ultimately boil down to being nitpicks at most. The album's length is perhaps the biggest draw with
Hypnos - it's a record dominated by slow-burn ballad tracks, and while they're textured and loaded with enough colorful bells and whistles to keep the songs from sounding boring, 53 minutes is a long time to spend riding on the backs of downtempo, atmospheric tunes. (Perhaps Lenae should have saved a handful of these tracks for future releases.)
Hypnos also has a handful of tracks that sound pretty cool before unexpectedly fading out or just ending altogether. The excellent opener "Cameo" is one such example of this, but even more damning are the cases of the psychedelic, mellifluous "Higher" and the funky Latin Jazz-meets-Bossa Nova cut "Like You Do", two great-sounding templates that suddenly fade away before they can really establish themselves. Perhaps if these songs were fleshed out and a handful of the more pleasant-but-superfluous songs were scrapped for next time ("Deep In The World" and "Wish", for example), then
Hypnos would be an airtight record with virtually no audible loose ends whatsoever.
Hypnos is a gorgeous and textured album and a striking debut from a talented singer-songwriter that seems to know exactly what she wants and what she wants to do. Equal parts enticing and relaxing,
Hypnos is packed full of sultry grooves and slick, heavenly vocal passages that harkens back to the quiet storm and neo-soul of the late 90's and early 2000's while having enough unique, modern embellishments to make it stand out among its contemporaries. It's a promising record from a promising artist, and if Lenae's willing and able to keep pushing herself while sticking to a sound that clearly works for her, then I fully expect her career to be a promising one.
