Naming a track “To Build A Home” sets a bar, because the Cinematic Orchestra song with that title is one of the most quietly devastating pieces of music of the last twenty years, and you do not borrow that title lightly. KAIVON either doesn’t know that or doesn’t care, and weirdly the confidence works in his favor. This is big, open-hearted melodic bass, the kind designed for that moment at a festival when the sun’s going down and ten thousand people decide to feel something at once. The chords are warm, the drop is more emotional than aggressive, and there’s a piano line threaded through it that keeps the whole thing from floating away. I tend to roll my eyes at music this earnest, but KAIVON commits so completely that the cynicism just slides off. He’s not winking at you. He means every swelling synth. The production is glossy without being sterile, and there’s enough movement in the back half to keep it from settling into wallpaper. It won’t change your life, but on the right night with the right people it might briefly feel like it could. That’s a fair trade.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.