Music production
fromPitchfork
2 days agoJWords: Sound Therapy
Sound Therapy shifts JWords toward calming synths and vocals, but flat vocal delivery weakens emotional impact and makes the album feel slight.
Marshall Smith, aka Farsight, has consistently crafted gelatinously wobbling basslines that reverberate throughout his distinctive, progressive dancefloor arrangements. Over the past four years, the former San Francisco DJ-producer-painter has been refining the formula, enhancing a dynamic mix of trap, Jersey club, reggaeton-meets-UK funky, and tribal house. When we last spoke in 2022, he told me that his inspirations ran the gamut from experimental heads such as Photek, Pearson Sound, Bloom, to locally minted players Bored Lord and Bastiengoat.
Not only does the track show off Anjimile's lush, patient vocals, it's got a pretty fascinating rhythmic structure; his drummer offsets the groove when they arrive at the chorus, almost like the song gets caught between moving too fast and too slow. That momentum really ramps up in the final refrain, complete with some guitar shredding and open hi-hat smashing. It's a great demonstration of Anjimile's tasteful ear and his ability to match a song's subject with its instrumentation.