The long-awaited sophomore album by RL Grime is finally here: NOVA is out four years after the release of his debut album VOID. NOVA is packed with fifteen chest-thumping, bass-heavy tracks that show off RL Grime’s expert production.
The project features a wide range of unique vocal talent, ranging from the pop-dance sounds of Miguel and Julia Michaels on “Light Me Up,” to the trap-influenced hip-hop vibes of Jeremih and Tory Lanez on “Undo.” The flow of the project carries the listener from a pop and mainstream artist, down a valley into the darker, more experimental sounds of “Reims,” “Pressure,” and “Era” in the center of the tracklist. Eventually, NOVA transitions back to the lighter material via the interlude, “Run For Your Life,” and carries on with a lighter finish.
With a wide range of vocal talent comes a wide range of skill levels, and some artists seem to mesh better with RL Grime’s production and writing style than others. Standout vocal tracks from NOVA after the first few listens are “Shrine,” which features artist Freya Ridings, and the ever-popular leading single “I Wanna Know” featuring vocalist Daya. Both vocalists mesh perfectly with RL’s style, and the tracks exemplify his tight, creative mixing to create a work of art worth replaying.
On the other hand, some vocal performances feel disjointed from the rest of the album. RL Grime’s production never fails to dip below the quality he’s known for, but the vibe of the album is disrupted in the tracks “OMG” featuring Joji and Chief Keef, and in the popular track “Undo” featuring Jeremih and Tory Lanez.
While both tracks work well as singles and are worthy of praise on their own, they aren’t nearly as successful in blending with the overall vibe of the album as some other tracks featuring rappers. Some of the more successful ventures in combining rap vocals with RL’s style are shown in the tracks “Take It Away” featuring Ty Dolla $ign & TK Kravitz, and in “UCLA” featuring 24hrs.
If you find yourself looking for RL Grime’s classic dark, trap-influenced bass bangers, you’ll love the center pocket of tracks, especially the tracks “Reims,” “Pressure,” and “Era.” All three are masterfully mixed into a work of art that tells a story of the light, the dark, and a redemption following. “Reims” shines especially bright, and its dramatic crescendos mixed with an incredible use of vocal samples will take your breath away.
In an interview with dance news publication Stoney Roads, RL Grime talks about how he came up with the title, NOVA:
“The definition on NOVA is that it’s a small star that very quickly bursts into just pure light and it’s all you can see. I’m a very visual person when I’m writing music, so I like to have a visual or a moment that I can see in my head and then sort of write music along with that. And so that idea of NOVA is like a tiny star bursting into 100 times its size in space was just sort of this beautiful, majestic, visual that I kind of wanted to put music to.”
Needless to say, NOVA lives up to its namesake. Though there are some minor shortcomings when it comes to blending the different styles of vocal talent, the resulting album is nothing short of an EDM masterpiece and is likely to be one of the best dance albums of 2018.
