Columbia Nights
I wrote this review on a cloudy New England evening, One of those evenings you spend looking out the window watching people as they try, tentatively, to get in an end-of-day run, walk the dogs or do whatever other outdoor thing people do without the threat of heavy rain. This is one of those evenings where the retro-electro stylings of Columbia Nights Dawn | Dusk comes in handy. A soulful dive into deep space, scoring and bringing character to my overcast evening. Add to the above a glass of something buzz-worthy and the vocal styling’s of Sarai Abdul-Malik and my evening of sporadic showers and people-watching is complete.
Taking a page from Viktor Duplaix and Spacek, these guys are learning the art of setting the mood right, by gently building on a deep groove with sweet vocals - a confident rhythm section, cool keyboard work, - definitely no issues with the music here, none whatsoever. There’s an endearing, timeless vibe to their sound I think will turn on listeners and build long-term devotees--if, of course, they don’t give in to the temptation of chasing after the popular vote.
By no means is this all the way perfect (the spoken word pieces really don’t lend themselves to the overall vibe of the EP); it’s definitely something solid and spin worthy enough to find it’s way into the collection. My main beef I guess is being a 7-track EP leaves me hanging, wanting more.
- Enyi Emesih
