Sometimes, it takes more than one sitting to really appreciate
\nan album. There might be some nuances that you just don’t catch the
\nfirst time around, but the more comfortable you get with the disc,
\nthe more you’ll tend to recognize them.<\/p>\n
Well, I’ve been listening to
\nDaydreamin’<\/i> from Before Dark now for the better part of two
\nweeks – I honestly think I’ve listened to this disc 10 times, and I
\nstill think I’m missing something. Why? Simple: I’m not finding
\nmyself overimpressed with this Los Angeles-based female R&B
\ntrio. It’s got some moments to it, but overall, it’s like I’ve
\nheard this all before.<\/p>\n
The trio – Mia, Arike and Jeni G. – do know how to work some
\nmagical vocal harmony into their music. If only they utilized it a
\nlittle more instead of singing in unison on certain parts of the
\nalbum. Tracks like “As Far As They Know” could have had much more
\nimpact than just being your typical hip-hop-fused R&B that
\nseems to perpetuate the market today.<\/p>\n
Oh, but there are times that Before Dark proves they’re worth
\nthe attention. “Monica” is a killer track, and is rightfully
\nselected as the first single off of
\nDaydreamin’<\/i>. With an infectious beat, a catchy chorus and
\npowerful vocal performances throughout, you can’t do anything but
\nlike this track – and don’t be surprised if you find yourself going
\nback to this one performance often. Likewise, tracks such as
\n“Always On My Mind” and “It’s All About You” demonstrate the power
\nthat Before Dark has, and just how good they can be when they
\nchoose to utilize it.<\/p>\n
The second half of
\nDaydreamin’<\/i> makes the unfortunate decision of dipping a
\nlittle too far into the world of hip-hop, with spoken-word
\ninterludes really wrecking the progress the trio seems to be
\nmaking. The advances of tracks like “Tough Love” are quickly erased
\nby the failed experiments of “Push-N-Shove” and “Back Around”,
\nending the album on a disappointing note.<\/p>\n
And while I can’t say I was crazy about the theme of the album –
\nhaving the girls go to the movies – it does serve as a means of
\nbreaking the album into two halves, providing a more definite line
\nthat can be drawn between the stellar material and the songs which
\naren’t quite as strong.<\/p>\n
\nDaydreamin’<\/i> is still very much a first effort from Before
\nDark, and given some time and seasoning they could well develop
\ninto one of the more influential R&B vocal groups around. But
\nthis disc shows these young ladies still need to find their niche,
\nwherever it may lie. Until then, this disc has its moments, but is
\na tentative first step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6359],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-36668","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-before-dark","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36668"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36668"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}