Baths - ♥

♥ is Bibio meets Grizzly Bear; chillwave meets electronic; Washed Out meets eerie piano keys and vocals. One could throw 21 year old Will Wiesenfeld a.k.a. Baths into the growing scene of underground chillwave artists who rely heavily on sampled beats and fuzzy melodies but it would be depriving Wiesenfeld of credit that he undoubtedly deserves. His debut LP "Cerulean" is the first under his new moniker Baths since ditching his previous "Post Foetus" outfit and is assuredly his most practical. The record is brimming with heartfelt songs of love and despair that would lead one to the conclusion that this isn't chillwave at all.

♥ is like an onion. The song begins with a hauntingly beautiful but still simple piano melody that grows on you with each listen. Wiesenfeld's Daniel Rossen like vocals enter alongside a wonderfully produced hip hop beat. There is so much emotion and expression in his voice, yet it acts as the accompaniment to the strong piano chords and Flying Lotus like hip hop arrangement. The intensity of the music makes it hard to focus on anything.



Wiesenfeld has created here what other artists have never tried. He has merged the electronic chillwave scene of L.A. with empathetic and sentimental lyrics. He has taken chilled electronic music meant to inspire relaxation, and makes you cry instead. He can be compared to other DJ's like Toro Y Moi or Flying Lotus because, in plain English, his beats are sickkkkk but it is also obvious that, thanks to his unfortunate despondency, he has meticulously perfected a genre of music that he can solemnly call his own. ♥, like the rest of "Cerulean" is about heartache, and though Wiesenfeld assures us "I won't go back....I won't go back....I won't go back...." I can only express that it is inevitable that he will.

I know I will.

Just D.