An Amazingly Honest and Genre-Blending Release from cae
An experimental dream pop release from cae delivers a soirée of delicate performances formulated by truths from very personal perspectives, and this is why the record holds so much character, and it's also why I ended up getting attached to it all so much.
The album is packed with soft synthesizers and keys, vocals that border on a whisper, and blatant honesty that comes at you so quickly you need to listen to certain songs two or three times in a row to soak it all in.
This is a record I consider brave. I think it takes guts to put together a piece of work like this one, simply because it is vulnerable, and when you listen to a lot of these songs, they connect almost like chapters in a book.
This is another reason I wouldn't skip around. I would listen to this record from start to finish all in one shot.
The songs tell stories, and those stories feel like they interconnect. I wouldn't skip chapters in a book, so I would also suggest you don't skip songs on this record.
There are surprises around its corners, experimental and sound-sculpting approaches, and definitely far fewer boundaries than the norm.
These are the other attributes I really loved about the record. It doesn't hold a lot back. It is built with no walls around it lyrically or instrumentally.
The whole thing boasts moods. It's outstanding how he's able to create instrumental productions that fit the mood for the lyrics so well.
The album is called alt girl encounters, and you start getting a feel for some of those truths and delicate approaches with the very first track, "b4u".
It's a beautiful song that features a lot of synth pads creating a vastness in the song's underbelly, which happens often throughout the record.
These songs have great scope to them. There is depth and layers, but there's also that vulnerability sitting right on the surface.
I think that's important because again, this is why you start getting hooked on the record.
Like most songs on the record, this track grows as it plays on. It always has that soothing undertone, but songs tend to build up instrumentally as they unfold.
It's kind of a beautiful thing because the whole record has a certain kind of elegance to it.
Amongst the dream and experimental pop approaches are elements of hip-hop that look just beneath the surface as well. Tracks like "ur slave" feature bits and pieces of that, along with decimated Beats, giving the song an overlapping edginess that feels filtered and sort of gritty.
"dreamt abt u..." is one of my favorite tracks because it features some great synths, bordering on a current indie pop aesthetic, going right along with some great melodies coming from those vocals, again in a very soft or sort of delicate approach, which strangely lets you pay a lot more attention to what he's singing about.
This album really opens something up. It's not just a standard record; it digs a little deeper into persona, situation, a certain kind of inner awareness, and those incredibly honest and descriptive emotional backbones that the whole thing is built from.
Still, it comes through fresh; it's got some great hooks, it's got some addictive Melodies, and it doesn't really lose its pop sensibility.
I would definitely check this record out with headphones on. This is really the best way to do it because the record boasts a lot of that sort of softness to it in terms of its tonality.
But don't miss it. This is not a record that you want to dip past. You want to dive into it and swim through it.
Check this whole thing out right now so you can see exactly where I'm coming from.
