Welcome to In Tune with WBMB, a weekly column where a member of the station covers a new track from the underground. This week’s article is written by Alex Fernandez.
I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to study while listening to music. Sadly, at the time I’m writing this, we’re deep in the midterm season, which is annoying for me because pretty much all I do is listen to music.
Something that has been helping me keep on pace though is the new Malibu debut album, “Vanities.”
Malibu, whose off-stage name is Barbara Braccini, is a French singer-songwriter. The debut album took Malibu two and a half years to both write and fully record, primarily in Stockholm, Sweden.
I particularly enjoy the track “Jaded.” I listened to this track on repeat one night while studying for an exam. I was able to listen through the whole song and it’s easy to tell why it was enjoyable. Malibu’s voice floats over these moody synth passages for a little over seven minutes, building into a climax of dark, cold and serene ambient tones in the middle of the track.
Almost cinematically, “Jaded” pulls you back into this liminal, crystal atmosphere before rushing you back into a room of dark, airy synths. The final minute feels muted, with everything washing over you before the next track starts.
What continues to hold “Jaded” in high regard for me is how intense it is. People turn to ambient music either to relax, travel or to study.
No matter the way one listens to music, there’s something about certain sounds that rip right through you, and the little details of “Jaded” keep me enthralled. Whether it’s dark synths, the hushed vocals that glisten in the background that crushing finale or maybe something subtle, there’s something hidden in the track that can’t quite be explained simply.
Music like this continues to keep me on my heels without saying a word, letting the emotion and its bliss speak for itself. So, whether you listen to this track while relaxing, travelling, studying or gazing through your window, let the sounds hit you and propel you on whatever it is you’re doing. Any sound could be the background to your story if you let in. Yes, even studying.
There’s a lot of moments on “Vanities” that feel hypnotic, yet it felt right to pick a song that represents this cold, calming and strangely harmonic feeling that comes with classes in October.
