ALBUM REVIEW: Reckless Barb - Now I Am My Life
“It’s a welcome pick-me-up for the cold, gloomy days that are upon us - although it’s really an any season album.”
There’s always an excitement in stumbling across new albums from local artists, especially those that have their hands in so many different forms of art. Reckless Barb’s Justin Babbino is a multimedia artist and poet, so I was intrigued when I saw that their debut album, Now I Am My Life, was dropping on 11/02.
This lo-fi, at times cinematic journey spans many genres, and spreads positivity and good vibes throughout, never feeling like it ever hits a low point. It’s a welcome pick-me-up for the cold, gloomy days that are upon us - although it's really an any season album.
The album opens up with “Splash 1: Out Of The Water,” which is spoken word drenched in reverb, over psychedelic lead guitars provided by guest guitarist, Tom Messina, and bird sounds. It feels meditative, getting you in the right headspace for the album. It clears the way for the early highlight that is track two, “Perspective.” A song rooted in hip-hop, it opens with the lines “Beautiful world, beautiful life / Everything is beautiful, even if not, I know it’s fine / I know the universe got me, just give it some time / You’ll be alright, you are a human on earth, just give it some time / You’ll be alright, just breathe, ya.” Then the drums kick in while that repeats, before it breaks into a beautiful melody line on the piano. There is then a guitar break on the back of a driving, almost fusion progression that develops into a full on solo before going back to the head and combining the earlier efforts for an outro.
Track three, “Waking Up On A Beautiful Day,” provides an uptempo psychedelic pop song with a half-time chorus and an outro that would leave some jam bands envious. The next highlight is track four, “Sonder.” A melody on chime sounding synth is layered by other synths creating a cinematic spectacle that you’d maybe hear in an A24 film. It then fades into an almost entirely different song led by guitar and auto-tuned vocals. It’s a beautiful psychedelic pop song that gives off The Flaming Lips or Grandaddy vibes, only to then pull off a jazzy instrumental break.
“Black Hole Horizon” opens with heavily processed vocals singing a nice melody that eventually evolves into an almost trap beat, featuring rapper Mike Larry Draw who just absolutely eats. It’s an out of left field moment that stands out on an album that is full of them. It closes with a string instrumental, which segues nicely into “A Million Magnificent Blue Jays.” A synth-heavy song that returns with some of the cinematic vibes of “Sonder,” while separating itself as being much more spacey and freeform. “Few And Far Between” then brings back a more down the middle songwriting style, while still remaining interesting and maintaining the character and tone of the rest of the album. It’s a really nice, almost hidden gem by way of its placement towards the end of the album.
From there on through the final few tracks, including a callback to track one with “Splash 2: Right Back In,” it feels like a nice wind down that ends with the aptly titled, “Clear My Mind.”
The creativity behind Now I Am My Life is off the charts. Seamlessly weaving in and out of genres and blending different sounds, it’s something that sounds wholly unique to draw you in, while maintaining a familiarity that keeps you there. Reckless Barb’s debut is a resounding success and I am excited to hear what’s next.
Reckless Barb’s debut record is available now on all major streaming services and Bandcamp.