With the ever present pressure to record and release content at a robotic pace, it is rare to see artists who harbor an idea and give it time to grow to its full potential. May it be a tweak in pitch or a complete redirection in the creative process, there is always something that can be improved with time. Giving a concept time to develop and having the intuition to be confident in its completion requires an artist’s eye absent of outside influence. Bambi is an artist who embodies this process, and has showcased it’s success rate with his album Prince of the Forest.
Already well known for his crisp, focused eye in all releases, when mutterings of the album came to light no one realized the extent of his dedication. While December 2017 came to an end, Bambi recorded the entirety in just three days; still recording out of friend’s closets in Texas. Since then this album has earned its own soul; sitting in the minds and hard drives of Bambi’s creative team, an all star list of vocalists, videographers, producers, and artists. Bambi has been shapeshifting musically, yet never wavering in his duality to create content holding the underground ethos while proving an ability to excel beyond it.
With the 2018 release of “Lies Say I’m Fine” listeners were given a glimpse into Prince of the Forest’s conception, and it was clear this was the artist under a new light. Since its recording, Bambi has dropped collaborations with his Midnight Society counterparts, released riot inducing projects, experienced the highest milestones, and has grown in his craft exponentially. Despite this, Prince of the Forest resonates and demonstrates a melodic side he had yet to expound upon, and proves Bambi’s most important musical quality; longevity.
An airy synth ushers listeners into Prince of the Forest with the 8mc produced “Everest”. Bambi’s identifiable timbre rings through the unusually calm delivery; despite the contrast to his prior releases. he makes himself known instantly. He dances around the track, playing with his vocal delivery and boasting in his lyrics effortlessly. The transition to the second track “Stressed” drops listeners in unfamiliar territory, until the disorienting introduction pulls together for a dark and smooth melody produced by Downtime. While already toying with the audience in the initial runtime, Bambi further builds the energy, allowing listeners to get comfortable with his powerful yet soft baritone and smooth underlaying guitar sample. The track is flipped on it’s head with a feature from Swerzie, which swiftly results in a reimagining of the song’s energy in the final minute. Next “Diamond Princess” produced by korosu gives the album a modern love song as he and Squillo Pierre paint a picture of a woman driven by cool aloofness; they layer their pleas for emotional reciprocation around the high stakes production fluently.
8mc brings another production to Prince of the Forest with “Lane Switch.” While still melodic and smoother than most of Bambi’s high energy tracks, this is still a song to excite audiences with emotional conviction. Hella Sketchy and NHL Strap lend their vocals to “Lane Switch”, making it a playground for the three to complement each other. 8mc furthers his involvement, collaborating on the “Come Down” instrumental with MJL. Bambi rides this track alone vocally, demonstrating his upper range.
The Sixth track “With You” gives us a Mason Flynt production, with features from Big Kee and another appearance from Hella Sketchy. Each of their contrasting styles and ranges makes this track thoroughly engagin, rife with catchy lyrics and vocal variance. Prince of the Forest comes to a close with the aforementioned “Lies Say I’m Fine”. The dual production from Josh Menchaca and Gosutu hold the tender lyrics like a safety blanket, softening the blow of the raw honesty. “Lies Say I’m Fine” is the perfect closing to Prince of the Forest, as it showcases Bambi in rare vulnerability despite being someone who’s built a reputation of strength; reminding audiences what it truly means to be a strong musician and person.
Despite each of the featured vocalists and producers bringing their own unique styles and quirks to Prince of the Forest, the executive production led by Bambi and Mason Flynt created a seamless experience from start to end. This album was curated by a group of creatives each very skilled at what they do, and the attention to detail in post production banded each of these elements together with storybook cohesion. Prince of the Forest is not a testimony to Bambi from here on forward, but a revelation of his range and a reminder to never box him in one niche. Moving forward, Bambi has confirmed several things in the works, including sequels to stand out collaborative EPs; DOGDEER II with Hounds, and Ducksonfire! with Kamiyada+. If there’s anything Bambi is well known for, it is his ability to throw audiences and constantly evolve with his releases. Listen to Prince of the Forest below.