Roman: P A L M S

This is sweet, sticky sweet, overwrought and deliberately so. I’m not familiar with either the artist or the label but as far as slo-jam vaporwave goes, you couldn’t do a whole lot better than P A L M S.

These are fragments of songs, or fragments of songs mixed up, manipulated, fucked with. Sometimes (as with “Y O U”) the effect is something like listening to R&B on ketamine and through a metal door. Sometimes it takes pedestrian source material and gives it a kind of Massive Attack grandeur, as with the title track. But mostly it makes them sound sweet, romantic and a bit awkward. “M I R A N D A” is one that you could see listening to on a loop for a good long while; it helps that the same vibe bleeds into “L O V E” and you won’t even notice the transition. “S E C R E T S” is the one that you wished had a bit more runway than the selfish 1:53 Roman gives us.

A background hiss is noticeable and at varying times irritating from track to track – I’d guess it’s to dirty up the sound a bit rather than the source material sounding this poor. Still, this guy (guys? girl? girls?) have a real skill for this kind of classic reclamation and rehab project.

Roman: P A L M S (Colosseum Records)

1. Roman: P A L M S (02:12)
2. Roman: M I R A N D A (02:11)
3. Roman: L O V E (02:11)
4. Roman: S E C R E T S (01:53)
5. Roman: T O N I G H T (02:11)
6. Roman: W E S T C O A S T (02:00)
7. Roman: Y O U (02:22)
8. Roman: C O A S T I N G (01:24)