Kalamazoo Sunset / Mel Semé

Sitting looking nowhere is an almost unbeatable organic state. The mind flies away and never ceases to augur sleep. This is how it is Kalamazoo Sunset (Tropical Gold Entertainment; 2023), an album built on the ethereal and a horizon of colors.

Focused on the environment and the dreamlike, Kalamazoo Sunset restores, in a certain way, the cult of the sunset, the tropical twilight. A closet of harmonies that hides vibrations full of tranquility and almost oceanic sensations, between summer feeling and autumn nostalgia.

Her discourse is simple because it is not a conversation, but a monologue to talk to oneself. Inner journey of the artist? I don't think so, it is rather the journey itself, the minutes leaning against the bus window or the clouds within reach behind the window.

The pillars of the album are divided into the approach, the aesthetics and the atmosphere. I've already been talking about the first one, the proposal is for the chilling out personal, to have a good time while doing something usual, a duty or a task. To accompany us. Its aesthetics is based on the protagonism of nature: the fog, the rain, the beach, the river or the sunflower; all of them grimories of life, accomplices of pleasant moments and life experiences during our existence.

And the music? The music is there, in the background, with rhythmic patterns that merge with the atmosphere creating a tessitura of minimalist nuances and opening the space for reflection. To achieve such a synthesis, Mel Semé starts from references such as Claude Debussy, DJ Spooky, Steve Roach, Spirit Herz, Sigur Rós, Áspgeir or Kashiwa Daisuke. All of them, in one way or another, are related to the great family of the environment. Specifically, Mel develops the concept of the dreams popmaking it travel in stages as the album progresses and up to the lofi. At this point I highlight the use of the beat own of the drill or of chi-hop in some of the topics.

As for the author: Mel Semé is a renowned Cuban instrumentalist who has developed his career somewhat dispersed, focused more on learning and collaborating with other figures than on his solo growth. After more than 25 years of artistic career with only several singles of his own, Kalamazoo Sunset is presented as Mel's debut album. This first production seeks to reflect the experimental desire of the artist, who leaves his comfort zone to throw himself into the whirlpool of music. environment.

In an initial contact with the album, we noticed that Topanga Beach, Kalamazo Sunset and Niagara Mist are the control points of the album. In my opinion they are the highest quality tracks, as they summarize a space or section (Start - Center - Close), with the start focused more on the dream popwhile the closing seeks to emphasize a more analogical and lofi. In general, its thematic skeleton is coherent and very close to the message it wishes to convey.

The cracks in the phonogram appear in its sound design. This was intended as an instrumental album; however, the supplanting of most of the instruments by synthesizers generates a certain monotony. Drawing such natural atmospheres, from the overwhelming use of synthesizers in the melodic leadership, leaves a perception of something artificial.

By the sixth track, the album becomes repetitive. This is the case of Montgomery River which recycles structures from Canandaiga sunflowerThis does not allow the differentiation of each piece, except for the appearance of synthesizers that are used to create dissonances and distinctive harmonies in each one.

These shortcomings do not tarnish the virtues of Kalamazoo SunsetOn the contrary, they open the door to what can be declared as music. environment tropical. Mel Semé approaches his referents by changing the canon of the dream popreinforcing the leadership of synthesized instruments and the rhythmic emphasis of the lo-fi beat or of drill.

However, the question arises: Is the apparent monotony in which the album is immersed intentional? Well, if we take into account the naturalistic approach defended by the author, the repetitive melodic channel that appears at times in each piece would make sense. Songs that impose a renewable and ultimately cyclical order.

The album says goodbye wrapped between the Niagara Mist. Subtle touches of Sci-fithe light, they fill in the light beat by drillplummeting from the waterfalls; lulling space-time and leaving us prey to the infinite loop of nature.