Rachel Chinouriri "Fourº In Winter" (2021)

With calming, softly sung wordings and crafty subdued instrumentals, singer Rachel Chinouriri steers R&B to the shadows with gentle Ethereal vibes to forge a unique sound. These eight tracks fit snugly together as they ebb and flow through the cloudy ambiguity of dreamy sound manipulation and tight traditional arrangements driven by sharp percussive grooves. Throughout it all she remains present as both the focal point and as an embellishment of textural layering, the music being interwoven with vocal manipulations. It gives the music a warm and curious tone where shadows, darkness and limbo, the usual arsenal of words in my vocabulary for description. They just doesn't feel quite fitting for the direction she drifts towards.

At twenty three minutes its an indulgence that never falters, crooning through these timeless spaces where melodies have devolved into brief surges of ambiguous sound. Its an amorphous experience. Give Me A Reason kicks us off straight into its curious mood as the slow tempo and pallet of odd sounds work there easy wonder. The ending however sours, a collaboration injecting a plain talking male voice with a verse structure to switch the vibe up, a contrast that didn't offer much in my opinion.

All between is a wonderful ride. Instrumentally its vaguely reminiscent of Jan Amit, possibly some Post-Rock artists where sparse acoustic guitars and airy synths take over. Vocally its Billie Eilish but more so because of her soft and breathy, intimate performances. In borders ASMR on occasions, which more often that not, doesn't rub me the right way. In this instance it works so well with the dreamy atmosphere, most of the time... In one or two moments she goes a bit far with it. Otherwise I really enjoyed this gem, very unique, occupying an interesting space between genres.

Rating: 6/10