Album Review: Galimatias Is A Renaissance Boy
Listening to Galimatias’ debut, Renaissance Boy, out August 28, I was transported. A cloud came and picked me up, offered me golden headphones personally made from God’s bank account, and proceeded to fill me with a level of chill over how shady love can be. Yes, dating is an awkward paradise, in part, because men and women are socially trained, in very different fashions, to get a mate. The richness of Galimatias’ lyrics and vocal approach to songs is that he smooths through the good and bad strategies we have taken to find our person.
Looking back, when I see some of my dating choices, from men to what I thought was “cute,” I could literally book a flight to Mars for agent restart. Love, especially in its beginning stages, is so strange because we can’t be strange. We are too focused on looking cool while trying to genuinely know someone; initiatives that clearly contrast. Ironically, we know we have love when we don’t have to be “cool” with someone; we can be ourselves. Yet, from the FABULOUS “REDEYE” to the mystical “Boy Hachi” or “Sinner,” Galimatias makes our efforts at love, for however foolish or wrong, so right at heart. There is something so noble to putting yourself out in this world and asking to be loved. Galimatias’ voice and verses respect that nobility, and make the journey sound as beautiful and twisty as a fairytale.
This album is romantic and sexy in the most elegant way. I swear each soundscape was born from an R&B ballet or opera; they are succinct, dramatic, and plotted in a belief that music brings out one’s humanity, and Galimatias’ voice could certainly do so. MY GOD are his vocals rich. He is so vocally collected as if his vocal chords are actually a bag of rubies and precious gems tightly tucked and dispersed over rhythms. Having such a cool, textured voice allows his songs to always have a level of seriousness and thoughtfulness, even if their rhythms make you want to twerk on the dancefloor. Still, songs such as “Room 332” and “Everywhere” show Galimatias’ ability to build a sound that has an ASMR quality to it; you simply want to rest in the romantic film he is sonically reeling and pray the lovers really do find each other in the end.
