My apologies to HKFIFTYONE for a bit of a late look at this newest project, an album with the title Horizon. A week-long trip to Florida and a recent addiction to Hovvdy’s latest album (which you can check out here if your taste extends the SoundCloud scene) are to blame. That being said, I find that taking some time to let your first impressions settle on a piece of music is pivotal in the creation of an analysis of least bias. With Horizon, HK cements himself as a talented producer, rapper, a vocalist well worth the listen. While a lack of diversity could arguably hold the project back, the consistency of quality throughout is undeniable.
The album immediately struck me with its opener, “Sunrise,” exploding in color out of the gate with these very airy and atmospheric synths. The song feels very full as it transitions into a trap beat and rapped vocals, but nowhere does it seem ‘overstuffed,’ as the backing instruments serve to give the song a very big sound, as opposed to an oversaturated one.
While a similar sound is felt throughout the track list, the album bookends itself strongly in the symmetry of the opener to closer “Adieu.” Both take that synth sound and bring it to the forefront of the music. There is slight lyrical symmetry there as well, characterized by the polarizing nature of the titles therein. “Android” and “Allnight (prod. AFTRWRLD)” feel as almost two parts to a whole, sharp traps beats cutting through layered synth-work with lyrics about moving on, uncertainty and solidarity.
The three themes listed here seem to sum up the vast majority of the lyrical content on the album pretty well. In this way it doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t, but you get what you come for, for better or for worse. Tracks “Skeletons” and personal favorite “Changing” bring in some very nice guitar work by way of Real Friends samples, deftly used to support the music just enough without being too reminiscent of their source material.
On the other hand, tracks “Heal” and “Sweetdreams” bring in a more poppy instrumentation into their production, with the latter incorporating very interesting (but not overbearing) vocal sounds. I really like “Hazy” for the increase in vocal aggression from HK as the track goes on. It’s things like this that spice up tracks and make them unique that I find the album needing more of. Potential only goes as far as you use it, and I find myself wanting HK to go farther into experimentation on the album. As noted, there are some serious throughways between every track on the album, both lyrically and musically.
Artwork for “Sweetdreams.”
Even though I kind of criticized the albums throughways as lack of diversity, I do want to touch on the albums most important throughway, hope. Even with some seriously downtrodden themes and topics, the album never loses its sense of hope in the face of it all. Even the backing tracks themselves lend themselves to such a thought with their uplifting synth quality. I don’t think that it’s any mistake that opposed to a bitter goodbye, the album leaves us with the denotation in the language of love.
Overall, I find this album very enjoyable and would recommend it to a variety of listeners, with its crossover appeal into pop and rap, with that little splash of emo influence to top it off. If it’s not ‘your thing’, there isn’t a track on the album that will convince you otherwise, but honestly that’s a very pedantic sentiment. HKFIFTYONE’s Horizon manages to keep the silver lining intact through struggle and lays an extremely solid groundwork for experimental growth in its creator.