ALBUM REVIEW: UNIQUE - GRANDMA

With all the media traction Unique has gained, it’s safe to assume that the readers will need no introduction to this artist. Continuous TV features and countless memes have only served to fixate the spotlight on this indie darling turned rising star. Despite having all eyes fixated on Unique, the abrupt release of this album aptly titled "Grandma", released under Kean Cipriano's newly launched record label O/C Records, had still managed to catch everyone by surprise. Just like clockwork, the press soon followed with adoration. Multiple artists expressed their love for the new album, hailing Unique for “setting the bar” and being the new torchbearer of Filipino music. Several articles were also written about the album, enough to displace the Google search algorithms for those looking for unique gifts for their grandmother (try it out, search “unique grandma”). To put it bluntly: almost everyone is ecstatic about Grandma. Unique had successfully captured the attention of the music scene. Initial listens had presented a constant positive in the album: the production fits almost every track perfectly. With the exception of Midnight Sky, a track I had previously tackled with some displeasure, the songs had great care placed in the production aspect. Small nuances such as layers of laughter, or the impressive choices of vocal effects found in most tracks helped to breathe some life into the best tracks Grandma. Some great examples are OZONE and Goodnight Prayer, two of the album’s highlights. OZONE reimagines the retro sound of yesteryear’s parties to tell the harrowing tale of the 1996 Ozone Disco Fire. Arguments might ensue whether or not the contents were in poor taste, but it can’t be denied that OZONE was a well-crafted track. Goodnight Prayer has Unique tackling a sound often found in Americana or Dark Country. Channeling the aforementioned sounds, Goodnight Prayer paints a dark picture of the downtrodden everyman in desperate prayer. Other tracks also come close to the quality of the two tracks previously mentioned. Jules features a memorable vocal performance, paired with great vocal melodies. The opener Cha-ching features impeccable structure and timing, with every musical idea presenting itself in full force without overstaying its welcome. My Old Friend is a chilling acoustic piece, perhaps the track best suited for its place in the tracklist (more on the tracklist later). The album in itself is a collection of commendable versatility, guaranteed to wow most of the listeners during initial observation. However, these positives fail to fully address the negatives found buried in the soul and framework of this album. This album contains its fair share of sub-par tracks. I'll Break Your Little Heart is a forgettable track harkening back to the psychedelic experimentations of The Beatles. Aside from the off kilter vocal delivery in some parts, the rest of the track plays like an underdeveloped version of the ideas tackled in Cha-Ching; a track that also revisits the sound of The Beatles. Sino is a One Click Straight song with marginally better production, less synths and more prominent bass. The track fails to develop its ideas, immediately losing any interest it could garner after a minute, after which it relegates itself as wallpaper music. Apoy ng Kandila is a one-note folk pop track that also acts as wallpaper music. In the background, it can serve well as a song featured in a high budget “indie” movie about the woes and travels of the modern Filipino petty bourgeoisie. Alone, however, the track stretches itself thin with little variation found throughout the song. We Know, the longest track in the album, is a track that surprisingly disappoints. The initial verse and overall soundscape hint at something stellar, something immediately brought down by a chorus not up to par with the rest of the song. After the chorus, the rest of the song plods along with repetition until the latter half arrives: a bombastic crescendo followed by a minute long fadeout. The crescendo is ineffective, as if it was held back to a minimal degree in volume; the cost being an unsatisfactory climax. The ambient fadeout is the most effective part of the song, with the subtle swells of various fading instruments interspersed all helping in the overall atmosphere of the ending. Definitely a more compelling work of ambient music than Midnight Sky. As for Midnight Sky, the only new thing worth pointing out is that placing it immediately after Goodnight Prayer abruptly breaks up the flow of the album. Sadly, this isn't the only tracklist problem found in the album. I had decided to tackle the tracklist in a non-sequential manner due to the track order being one of the biggest mistakes of the album. Track order in an album is a quality often overlooked by most musicians, and this album pays for it dearly. Putting Jules after OZONE only serves to take away from the individual qualities of both songs by placing a jarring shift in sound early on in the album. The ethereal soundscape heard in Sino does not justify preceding Paalala: and Goodnight Prayer, two tracks of a darker, more nocturnal tone. And despite Midnight Sky being a song entrenched in the qualities of the night, it’s sparse electric guitar arrangement is also unpleasantly different considering the lush Americana sounds of Goodnight Prayer comes before it. The upbeat, organic sound of Apoy ng Kanila following Midnight Sky is a more generally disorienting sound change, painting an auditory picture of midnight immediately skipping to arrive to the early morning sun. That imagery, admittedly, doesn't make sense due to the fact that We Know sounds just as dark as Goodnight Prayer. Overall, the track order as a whole brings down the qualities of each individual songs. It could be reasoned, however, that we live in a post-album age. Where everything is heard in shuffle first, and the album could just be rearranged to make a better tracklist. This highlights one counterpoint and one problem. As a counterpoint to the post-album age mindset, the existence of separate interlude tracks in the album prove that the tracklist was a conscious mistake: the artist had intended these tracks to fall into the outlined order, for better or for worse. Such is the nature of the album, where the track order is also integral in the shaping of the album’s image. Any rearrangement is then the listener’s reimagination of the piece rather than the pure essence of the artist. But what if, hypothetically speaking, the nature of this album allowed for rearrangement without the dilution of the artist’s pure vision. There arises the problem of this album: the track selection is inherently disparate. Grandma sounds like a subpar compilation of the fragments of different works, each of better quality, haphazardly stitched together to create something barely cohesive. You can arrange the tracks in separate groupings: Cha-Ching and I'll Break Your Little Heart belongs to an imitation of the psychedelic works of The Beatles; OZONE and Sino sounds like leftovers from Unique’s time with IV of Spades; Jules, Apoy ng Kandila, and My Old Friend could possibly reside in an acoustic album à la Bon Iver; while We Know, Goodnight Prayer, and a restructured Midnight Sky might be able to fit in a more mature, gothic country inspired album. However, these are merely hypotheticals, and the reality that is the track order and selection of Grandma sadly exists, in all it’s disjointed and derivative glory.

In viewing the track order and selection, an even bigger problem arises, one encompassing every song in Grandma. Versatility, the quality this album is often lauded for, proves to be fool’s gold once the album is carefully examined. This speciousness comes from the angle of aestheticism: Unique tackles several sounds, but only explores them at a surface level. Every song here sounds less like an expression of the soul through the channels of sound, but rather a conscious prioritization of the sound’s face qualities over the essence of the artist. What results from this inversion is a lack of identity in the part of the album and the artist. Perhaps it could be excused that the identity of the artist can’t be immediately found in the first album, and that the criticisms levied in this review present an unfair burden for the artist. However, the invention and reinvention of an artist’s musical identity is a cross every artist must bear, despite their self-assigned musical purpose. Whether playing “for fun” or writing progressive works of music, musical character is something evident in the art of creating original music. Musical character is innate in musicians, one cannot simply attempt to deflect comments regarding the expression of identity in a naturally expressive art form. In summary, Grandma is “uniquely familiar” in a sense that the songs heard are new creations, but the essence found in each song has already been done before. The whole is significantly lesser than the sum of its parts, it would be best to enjoy each track individually. [review written by Sopas] Support the art and the artist: https://open.spotify.com/album/0VF88sHKjbSWtm1wFHTSAg?si=OPKWFMjxTtC4_ATULd2iGg