EQUINOX

While Omar continues to explore the electronic elements of his music in a similar way to how he tapped into them with Octopus Kool Aid, Equinox sees him taking things in a far more abstract, formless direction. There are very few melodies to latch onto and the rhythmic elements feel jagged and chaotic, as if they're barely being held together and often just entirely falling out of time and trying their best to keep up, it's all a very bizarre, messy listen that takes on a very experimental edge on the whole. The issue to me is that I feel like it goes a bit too far in this direction to the point where it's difficult to find much tangible at all for the majority of the album's runtime, even if it has its standout moments such as the warped, almost dancelike beat of Lovely Rain and Dientes para el osmosis just generally reeling things back in a touch to really play to the strengths of the erratic vibes while working in some of his classic magic to really bring it to the next level. I continue to really enjoy ORL's approach to music being so free but at the same time I really do find that his best work tends to flourish whenever he is able to add more of those elements of nuanced structure and moments of more subdued material to help guide his music in a direction that makes those intense moments feel so much more impactful. I feel like Equinox is emblematic of both sides of this as well, as despite being so freeform for most of it and feeling a bit homogenous as a result, those few moments where everything gets stripped back a layer reveal some of his signature greatness, and I'm hoping some of the albums of his I'm yet to hear further expand upon this again, especially those that continue to play around with electronics.