An encouraging cutefolk debut with strong flaws as a record but showing signs of greatness. Some songs really have a compelling yosemite spring morning atmosphere and this will probably will stay in my library for those. This is particularly true of the more folk based tracks, with highlights being 1,2,6-9,11, and maybe 5 with its very peaceful vibe. They do however display the main flaw of this record: on their own the songs are very cute and pretty, but 54min of cute prettiness with little variation in mood and very tame compositions is too long and makes the songs loose a lot of their impact. But sound wise the prod is absolutely pristine, the instrumentation is gorgeous, and, while a bit naive sounding in places, the singing fits very well. But it feels more like a playlist record than an album to play in full. There are changes, but they're rarely successful. 3 takes a more bare bones, electronic approach, and frankly it doesn't work nearly as much. 4 is kinda between that and 1-2, but isn't as compelling as the latter, despite the strings and the voices in the chorus being quite superb. 10 feels like a remix but isn't. While the transition is awful making it feel completely out of context, on its own the track is quite cool, although it kinda stops on nothing where I wanted it to go into full dub techno. Does refresh things though. The only truly successful 'experimentation' is 12, which starts darker than everything else, then introduces super cool trip hop drums that give the track an entirely new flavour. The unexpected electronic noisy conclusion is the an excellent way to close the album. 3.6
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