baq5 – midnight walk [album review]

When I reviewed baq5’s debut album Times Like This last July, it was the first ever 10/10 album on the site. Perhaps I was a little overzealous as a newer writer and just wanted to get his name out there (which it certainly did), but I still stand behind the fact that it was an objectively great album.

Now nearly a year later, Fabian Imbri has returned with his second album, midnight walk. It’s a phenomenal follow up to Times Like This and features extremely lush sounds that draw you in deep.

Although the general tempo follows the typical house beat, this album doesn’t try to subscribe to any established archetype of sound design or genre. There are elements of electro, house, trance, chillwave, and others contained within, but the album is just simply music, and it’s done so well.

Tracks like “song for you” and “over the clouds” (my favorite on the album) are perfect examples of how electronic paradigms can serve as a platform for music, rather than the core. It’s my interpretation that too many producers are relying too heavily on already established styles of music, and are too afraid for their Top 40 status to branch out.

In a way, baq5’s relative obscurity is his strongest suit – it allows him to move between soundscapes, genres and influences seamlessly without fear of retaliation from a core group of fans. Fans of baq5 appreciate what he does best, and that’s just simply “make music.”

Support Baq5 by purchasing midnight walk on Bandcamp.
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