"Hope" LP Review [@ShamirBailey]

Such an apt title for such a powerful composition. Hope is the on a whim, lo-fi passion project of the so called "accidental pop star" Shamir Bailey. The whim was rather thin because before surprising the world with a contiguous Soundcloud album he surprised himself by making it over the short course of a weekend; a weekend he was considering quitting music altogether. Thank the gods that govern our lives he didn't because Hope has given me hope, as I'm sure it has countless others.

I was gonna quit music this weekend. From day 1 it was clear i was an accidental pop star. I loved the idea of it, i mean who doesn't? Still the wear of staying polished with how im presented and how my music was presented took a huge toll on me mentally. I started to hate music, the thing i loved the most! When i would listen to immaculate recordings with my friends their praise over the quality of the art as opposed to the art itself made me feel really sad for music as a medium in general. My music only feels exciting for me if its in the moment, and thats what this album is. I made this album this past weekend stuck in my room with just a 4 track feeling hopeless about my love for music. Im not gonna lie, this album is hard to listen to, but it was even harder for me to share. I love pop music, i love outsider music, and i love lofi music, this is my way of combining all 3. Anyway I played, wrote, produced, and mixed everything and big thanks to Kieran Ferris for Mastering an album with an hours notice! its free! Enjoy! Love Yall! Still more 2 come!!!!!!! Tracklist: Hope What Else Ignore Everything Tom Kelly Easier Like A Bird One More Time Won't Kill You I Fucking Hate You Rain (Blake Babies Cover) Bleed It Out Album download: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/u0wwrkud56vad/HOPE+MP3S

In a world where we feel like a nuclear strike or a race war could happen at any moment this album can calm nerves and give assurance to a soul in crisis. There's so many vibes of perseverance and redemption riddled throughout the 35 min play through. And the chaotic, yet sharp nature of the many different tracks can be best captured about a third of the way through @ the 13 min mark when you get to the track "Easier" (He lists the songs in the description and made them available for individual download). I had an eargasm the first time I heard him begin to belt out on the track followed by robotic yodeling. It's all so pure. And I generally dislike lo-fi because so often it's TOO lo-fi, but this is the perfect level of lo-fi. It's distorted to the point of being soft on the ears and it's mastered extremely well for such a rushed project. Shamir's voice is given a piercing quality over the production on much of the album. You can really feel the emotion from each note he delivers. This is something that had to be made and made how it was made. Fated to exist if you will. It occupies a space in Music that's rarely done or even done justice when it is done.

And I'll wrap this up here and keep it short. Shamir Bailey is in a class of his own and his forthcoming album release "Revelations" is sure to be an amazing successor to this which sits firlmy atop my list of Best Albums of 2017 already. Sweet, right?