On his eagerly anticipated full-length debut, Los Angeles transplant B\u00d8RNS takes the pop confections of last year\u2019s Candy <\/i>EP and repackages them to a somewhat halfhearted effect. Much like a box of chocolates, there are some tasty morsels to be found but also some duds, and while this disc is listenable throughout, it\u2019s not a fully satisfying experience.<\/p>\n
Where the four-song Candy <\/i>EP was all sparkly, glam energy, stretched out to 11 tracks, you can start to see the cracks in the glimmer. Three of those four cuts make it onto Dopamine,<\/i> and they sound wonderful as always. Opener \u201c10,000 Emerald Pools\u201d is still a lush love ballad, highlighting B\u00d8RNS\u2019 gorgeous falsetto, and \u201cElectric Love\u201d is the flashpoint of the album, standing up to endless repetitions. The rest of the new material has a pop sensibility that pulls from a wide array of influences, from \u201860s Beach Boys-esque harmonies to silky Prince grooves to T. Rex glam. The B\u00d8RNS aesthetic is well crafted enough that all these songs are enjoyable, but there\u2019s just something up with the sequencing of this disc that prevents it from being fully immersive.<\/p>\n
For instance, the downbeat, lovelorn \u201cDug My Heart\u201d is sandwiched between \u201c10,000 Emerald Pools\u201d and cuts off abruptly before \u201cElectric Love,\u201d which is as effervescent and jaunty as \u201cDug My Heart\u201d is placidly heartbroken. Next up, \u201cAmerican Money\u201d is actually quite catchy and dynamic in tempo, but I can\u2019t figure out whether the tone here is meant to be ironic (\u201cTake me to that paradise in your eye \/ Green like American money\u201d), particularly given that this disc features production from Emile Haynie (Lana Del Rey\u2019s Born To Die). <\/i>In Lana\u2019s hands, it would be obvious, but with B\u00d8RNS, everything sounds like a love song. Meanwhile, lead single \u201cThe Emotion\u201d is as frustratingly vague as its title would imply.<\/p>\n
Still, the second half of the album shines most when it gets a little funkier \u2013 like on the soaring falsetto and sultry grooves of \u201cHoly Ghost\u201d or closer \u201cFool,\u201d which sounds plucked straight out of the \u201870s with its breathy synths and the glossy vocals on that rafter-reaching chorus. It\u2019s baffling that \u201cFool\u201d would be saved to the end when it\u2019s such an attention-grabber; it basically begs you to sing along on first listen. Also worth a mention is the slow-melting \u201cClouds,\u201d which unfolds with a sense of weariness and longing that sets it apart. <\/p>\n
So, for an album that seems to promise it\u2019ll stoke your pleasure receptors, Dopmine <\/i>doesn\u2019t fully deliver on that promise. Still, B\u00d8RNS shows promise as an artist, with a gift for pop songcraft that will hopefully be harnessed to even better use as he grows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":32538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9692],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-44301","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-borns","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44301","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=44301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44301"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}