Review Summary: "So beautiful and so damn rare."
Metaphorical Music is what I’d like to call the perfect upper. From start to finish the record is an unwinding euphoria trip. There’s just something awe-inducing about Nujabes’s approach to making beats. The traditionalistic boom bap infused with colorful, wavering, watery jazz is what makes me always come back for more. It’s a simple format, yet so damn effective. His sound is mellow, it’s melancholic, and it’s all too beautiful. The way the piano melody effortlessly flows through tracks with a simple yet enthralling boom bap beat hanging in the background in songs like “Blessing It” and “Kumomi”. The way the fast-paced and manic drumming passages on “Horn in the Middle” break into that iconic trumpet refrain. The way said trumpet refrain is followed by a small piano refrain. It’s all too engaging and hypnotic. The guitar loop on “Lady Brown” and the low key synth pattern on “Highs 2 Lows”. There’s just something innately down to Earth about these tracks. They feel as natural and blissful as a wave caressing your feet, or a summer breeze gracing your cheeks.
Then you have tracks like “Letter from Yokosuka”, with its melting saxophone melody hanging in the background, while a sleepy piano lead infiltrates your ears in the foreground. The vocal samples on “Think Different” feel like they’re infused to the track’s beautiful piano glissando and, again, the background sax just adds that jazzy flavor to the mix. The rap features on this thing only add to the overall immersion. People like Substantial and Pase Rock from the amazing Five Deez and Cise Starr. MCs whose flows just melt into the atmosphere of the album. It feels like they’re trying to sweep you off your feet with their sensual, yet soft-spoken verses. They add to the sexiness of the record as a whole.
The album is effortlessly gorgeous, breath-taking and relaxing. Yet by the way I’m describing it the record sounds like a snooze-fest to people who aren’t at all familiar with jazz-infused hip hop or chill-vibes in hip hop. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Again, the record is an upper. It uplifts you in such a cerebral manner. Plus, there are some tracks that are more hard-hitting than others. You got more energetic tracks like the aforementioned “Horn in the Middle” and more mellow tracks like “The Final View”. This is the kind of record you listen to when you’re in the worst of moods or the lowest of lows and want to break out of said downers. This is the kind of record you make love to your partner to during a cold, rainy night. I could stay here and talk about this record or any of Nujabes’s music and how amazing it all is for hours, but I’m not. Go listen for yourself.
Honey brown with the long black hair
Teasing me with a kiss and a stare
Slight touch - and you're taking me there
So fine and it just ain't fair
So beautiful and so damn rare
