Majid Jordan - Wildest Dreams Music Album Reviews

Majid Jordan - Wildest Dreams Music Album Reviews
Once again fusing R&B and retro synth pop, the Toronto duo’s third album revels in the impermanence of intimacy. The production and singing dazzle, even when the emotions feel hollow.

For Majid Jordan, love lives in a neon-lit nightclub. In their world, you close your eyes and move your hips and fall for someone with one kiss, a life’s worth of passion unfurling in a burst of MDMA-like euphoria. Meshing new-wave R&B and retro synth pop, the Toronto duo’s excellent 2017 sophomore album, The Space Between, located the sweet spot between romantic abandonment and woozy heartache, a nexus well suited to their genre-hybrid sensibilities. But on their third record, Wildest Dreams, Majid Jordan are all abandonment, all the time. Even when they leave the party, they long for the thrill of sweaty bodies and shimmering lights, reveling in the impermanence of intimacy without experiencing any of the consequences.

It’s easy to forgive Wildest Dreams for repeatedly hitting the same note, because the songs here are consistently flawless. The slightest turn of the knob might jeopardize their mathematical quest for pop perfection. Jordan Ullman’s spacious, atmospheric, expertly crafted production creates glitzy, synth-oriented spotlights for singer Majid Al Maskati to shine. As ever, his vocals are understated yet evocative, nimble enough to switch registers at precisely the right moment. On lead single “Waves of Blue,” spacy riffs and up-tempo drums lay the foundation for Al Maskati to croon one of the album’s most addictive hooks: “I’m in love with the thought of being in love, in love with you.” Two other standouts, “Been Through That” and “Life Worth Living,” boast gorgeous vocal runs, propulsive basslines, and grooves designed to make practically anyone, anywhere, bob their head and hum along.

Even the duo’s more traditional R&B songs have a sunnier palette than on records past. Despite blatantly lifting the melody of Usher’s “Climax,” the title track is a sultry and sensitive sex jam that advises a nice-and-slow approach. Guitar ballad “Forget About the Party” dazzles, too, but it exposes a weakness in Al Maskati’s songwriting: He tends to reach for the nearest platitude rather than explore what’s under the hood of a feeling. “I’ll give myself to you like it’s a habit,” he sings, distancing himself from further introspection. On the Drake-assisted “Stars Align,” a hollow yearning to “last through the night” and “get the job done” mutes the song’s already minuscule stakes. The hues may be brighter but the image is fuzzier, substance and specificity sacrificed for good vibes and catchy one-liners.

But let’s not ask too much of Majid Jordan. It’s cleansing to spend time with a record as resplendent and sensuous as Wildest Dreams, where the only demands are that you dance the night away and have endless, carefree sex with your (maybe?) soulmate. Still, nearly 40 minutes of impeccably engineered synth pop can feel like having a conversation with an artificially intelligent love interest; they’re saying all the right things and making you feel pretty good, but then you remember you’re talking to a robot.

When Majid Jordan co-wrote and produced Drake’s 2013 single “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” the ’80s revival in contemporary pop was just taking off. It’s hard to remember how radical the song sounded at the time—aerodynamic and timeless, like it had always been there, waiting. Majid Jordan have a bone-deep understanding of pop and R&B, and they’ve succeeded in subverting, and sometimes innovating, within these spaces. Wildest Dreams doesn’t break new ground as much as it activates familiar pleasure centers, tapping into whatever hardwired circuits convince us to dance long after the party ends.

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About Wanni Arachchige Udara Madusanka Perera

Hey, I'm Perera! I will try to give you technology reviews(mobile,gadgets,smart watch & other technology things), Automobiles, News and entertainment for built up your knowledge.
Majid Jordan - Wildest Dreams Music Album Reviews Majid Jordan - Wildest Dreams Music Album Reviews Reviewed by Wanni Arachchige Udara Madusanka Perera on January 12, 2022 Rating: 5

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