Lo Five - Aspirant

Released: November 29

There’s a certain quality to this new album from Lo Five that I can’t quite put my finger on. Something like a sense of serenity, calm, or peacefulness that rings out from every strangely vintage sounding note and drum hit that instantly evokes a neutralization of inner conflict. Maybe I’m projecting this feeling onto the music but I can’t help but imagine this being felt by many others, if not all of them. There’s a blend of ambient and downtempo composition techniques that blur together throughout the album with a distinct touch of something very late-90s to early 2000s about its overall sound. It feels spacious but without feeling washed out or overly airy - just this perfect little blend of vintage and vibe that feels like a warm compress to stress. 

With the late 90s feeling I’m referring to, we can listen to tracks like “Ghost.” It’s a track with a distinct rhythm of the era, reminiscent of much of the soundtrack era of downtempo - think movies like The Bourne Identity, when artists like Portishead and Moby were bringing electronic music into the mainstream. It has beautifully layered synths that provide a plush soundscape which is in turn anchored by the distinctly downtempo break inspired rhythm, giving the track a further sense of motion that only slightly outruns the synths. But then on the other side of this album, we have thick and spacey ambient tracks like “The Intimacy You So Desire.” The aural beauty that is contained here is so lovely, even as it almost completely eschews any sort of melody in favor of pure and luscious harmony. It’s just a fantastic album from beginning to end, one that is one of the most calming and zen I have heard in quite a bit.