Review: "Spirit Animal Club-House" Album by cunabear
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A hazy psychedelic sort of hip-hop anchors cunabear’s dreamy “Spirit Animal Club-House” album. Flows further incorporate the gorgeousness of the sound. Lyricism has a poetic quality with every word carefully balanced, every verse given equal weight.
cunabear takes his time making patience a powerful ally in the overall carefully sculpted mood. Every track plays off the last allowing the entire album to work best when taken in as a singular whole. Beyond the hip-hop psychedelic frame, elements of jazz, drone, and hypnagogic pop are brought together in a way that becomes powerful. Letting it all simply wash over the listener in a kaleidoscopic array of color, the attention to detail feels magnificent.
The skewed electronics and off-kilter rhythms recall at times some of Brainfeeder’s roster. Woozy with its effects and funky percussion, the playfulness taps into Thundercat’s jazz-inspired endeavors. For the more experimental side of things where cunabear truly lets it all loose, he brings a bit of Flying Lotus’s potpourri of genres. With his delivery, he brings to light some of Tyler, The Creator’s approach alongside the careful gait of Earl Sweatshirt.
Glowing tones open up the album on the instrumental “Unzip Yourself, Magic-Man! (A Beat For Big Moe, Rest In Peace)”. The metallic sheen of “Chandelier” revels in a beautiful, blissed-out shimmering sound. Lounge-like with its clever, warped vision is “Saturnalia” for the piece comes in and out of focus. A late-night noir runs through the atmospheric title track “Spirit Animal Club-House” as many layers are filtered into the mix.
Delivered with urgency is the fast-paced manic energy of “WE PARRY SPEARS! (Mobius Strip Contortion pt. 2)”. By far the highlight of the album comes from the multi-suite epic “Seizing Self-Belief” where the grooves have an infectious quality to them. The anxious energy of “Vicegrips & Broken Vessels” rushes the track forward. Done with a raw grit and soul, “Thicker Than Thieves” brings some field recordings into the fray. Forgoing lyrics for the finale “Free-Forming”, the album ends on a reflective note.
The “Spirit Animal Club-House” album shows cunabear sculpt a lovely, soothing world, one whose surreal quality reveals an entire aural universe to explore.