LOVE LETTERS: COLOURLESS

An album of notable variety--enough so that one might conclude that it might not be a concept--but, no! It is! And one might think these songs are not issued from within a My Little Pony perspective but again, you'd be wrong. Vylet Pony is using these songs to express some of Zelda's very deep realizations about herself through the same Pony character, just using a weirdly diverse song palette in order to do so. Here she's lamenting the unbeknownst-to-her ghosting of a person whom she thought was really close to her. The letters here are from a friend who had been responding to Vylet's Love Letter album from three years previous. The letters (from "Rarity") have been collected and accumulated by "Rainbow Dash" over the three years that have passed since Love Letters was published and are now being reviewed and responded to by Rainbow Dash in the mysterious silence and absence created by Rarity's disappearance. Through it all Rainbow Dash is coming to terms with her own sexuality, sense of loss for friends/relationships past, and loneliness/isolation. The music here is often mirroring or drawing from the soulful EDM music coming from NeoSoul artists like James Blake, Sampha, Estrella Del Sol, Lianne La Havas, BANKS, and other female pop artists dabbling in the world of electronic hypertreatment (like Björk). There is, however, little to no glitch-anime EDM of the sort used in Pony's more recent albums. There is a continuing exploration of sounds and styles familiar to the psychedelic soul side of pop music and there is still the occasional presence of "little girl" themes and tropes. There is some exploration of sound and sound combinations, but more often than not the songs present themselves as fairly simple (though still odd) constructs with a lot of spaciousness and very introspective, often heavy, soulful breathy vocals used to express the often sad lyrics. Sadness is, I think, the predominant feeling I get, over and over, from the music on this album. I don't sense much if any anger--at least not in aggressive forms (maybe in biting word choices). I do feel a dreaminess in the world Rainbow Dash is expressing from, a rather severe detachment from the bigger world and other people/creatures. Again, this is a very introspective album: we are allowed to bear witness to some really deep soul-searching being done, I'm assuming, by Zelda through Vylet Pony's Rainbow Dash. Occasionally I get this feeling that Zelda is kindred spirit to such torch singers as Billy Holliday, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Eva Cassidy, Sandy Denny, Tracey Thorn, or even Norah Jones. I guess as Zelda enters personhood she is forced to deal with the loss (and losses) of childhood. At the same time, she is sounding more and more like an adult--one that is not particularly excited or happy with the prospect of moving forward--is more "stuck" wallowing in the dross of the past. Kudos for her ability to use her art and craft to process. I hope she experiences healing and progress in the process.

I find myself blown away by the catharsis I feel this "character" going through--which culminates in the incredibly emotional and powerful duo of songs, "Beauty Lies" and "Everydream." They alone may be worth the journey of the entire album.

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