Sakari - We Met At The Park

Released: July 12

Expertly blending techno and vaporwave, We Met At The Park is a sweeping ten track album that is, somewhat surprisingly, a love story at its core. Throughout its runtime, the titles of each song carry the story along as misty synths and reverb soaked drums bring the mood of each title to life in a while that feels perfectly attuned emotionally. I didn't really have a sad love story vaporwave album on my bingo card for album that I just had to hear, but since this one came across my path I've written it in in the top corner because it obviously should have been there to begin with. 

It opens up rather innoculously with "2006 luv birdz," which I feel is a particularly poignant track as it capture something most people don't think about regarding the start of a relationship. That is, it is much more disorienting than you remember in hindsight. Heavy layers of synth have a happy note buried in the back ground for this track but it feels overall very swirly and a bit dizzying while the tech beat in the background feels like it's stuttering and skipping ever so slightly. But this is not exclusive to the first track. It's kind of a theme throughout much of the album, with some leaning more into this dizzying feeling and others having a bit more clarity in their presentation and overall vibe. "the slide" is one of the tighter feeling tracks here as the the drums are a bit more crisp and the synths have a more distinct melody, even though it feels fleeting as the fogginess only lets it peep out a bit. But it doesn't break from the continuity of a full play-through either, and leads into two of my favorites, "merry go round" and "warm fuzzy feeling."

These two tracks come right at the midpoint, which is the most apt point in time. It's kind of the peak of the story here as things are going well and its only pure fuzzy bliss at this point with warm basses and happy sounding pads. But right after these two, is where the story turns and things go downhill. Jst a couple of tracks later, "maybe we'll meet again" gives us a wistful and almost teary signal that things are over with almost vocal-sounding pads and a gentle melody that is buried behind a misty expanse. 

This album is a well-crafted story that obviously holds a lot of weight for its author. But with the combination of the heartfelt story and the unique production choices, it's definitely something that I have not heard before. It's by no means a flawless album, but nothing that comes from a sincere place ever is.