It\u2019s the dog days of summer, and what better way to celebrate than with a sparkly glam pop release out of Los Angeles? Truth be told, this EP actually came out last fall and its creator, 23-year-old Garrett Borns, is originally from Michigan. But this small batch of effervescent tunes is quintessential summer music. <\/p>\n
In the beginning of his career, Borns moved to Los Angeles, lived in a tree house while writing this EP, and re-christened himself B\u00f8rns\u00a0 (Danish for \u201cchildren\u201d because as he told Rolling Stone, <\/i>his music will \u201crebirth you as your inner child and your primal lover\u201d). It\u2019s a quirky origin story, which fits his shimmering, glamorous sound well. Candy <\/i>is undoubtedly pure pop, but it\u2019s crammed full of as much energy and influences as fourteen minutes can hold. The B\u00f8rns\u00a0 sound is reminiscent of MIKA\u2019s spunkiness, the harmonies of Electric Light Orchestra, and the sweeping scope of Queen.<\/p>\n
Seriously \u2013 opener \u201cElectric Love\u201d is like the modern-day sequel to \u201cYou\u2019re My Best Friend,\u201d sweet in sentiment, positively lush in instrumentation, and instantly stuck in your head. \u201cBaby, you\u2019re like lightning in a bottle \/ I can\u2019t let you go now that I\u2019ve got it \/ All I need is to be struck by your electric love,\u201d B\u00d8RNS croons over a curvy guitar line as the harmonies swoon behind him. It\u2019s a charming intro, and sets the pace well for lead single \u201c10,000 Emerald Pools,\u201d which dials back the pep for a more languorous but every bit as pretty love song. The guitars are thicker and more ambient as B\u00f8rns\u00a0 moves back and forth between a crystalline falsetto and the more full-throated chorus. He establishes himself as a commanding frontman on this disc, full of energy and exuberance as he gallivants his way through his creamy pop confections. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, \u201cPast Lives\u201d is like two flavors of candy in one (though both are equally sweet): it begins with just a spare, layered falsetto vocal, but just a minute later, B\u00f8rns\u00a0 has flipped the script entirely. His voice deepens, the bubbly synths kick in, and the track becomes a funky ode to destiny, true love lived throughout decades. But it\u2019s on \u201cSeeing Stars\u201d that he swings for the pop fences; it\u2019s probably the catchiest moment to be found here, giving \u201cElectric Love\u201d a run for its money with a soaring chorus and infectiously joyful lyrics.<\/p>\n
Candy <\/i>is a totally apt name for this EP; listening to these four songs is like eating a handful of milk chocolate \u2013 silky smooth and totally tasty. However, as addictive as these tracks are, I\u2019m eager to see if B\u00f8rns has even more angles to his gorgeous pop sound when he releases a full-length album. Some nougat or dark chocolate perhaps?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":32473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9692],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44234","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-borns","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44234","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44234"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}