Octo Octa - For Lovers EP

Octo Octa
For Lovers EP
2019
Spotify

Octo Octa's career has always felt like it should be bigger than it was. Her ambition was sky high, but the while the musical results were good they were never as transcendent as She may have pitched them. That changes on this EP. Her production skills have gone through the roof in the past two years. Instead of some straight up house tracks on For Lovers we have these atmospheric and lush tracks. The albums opener "I Need You" begins with this slow chant, a meditation that can lead anywhere. It's an unexpected shift from the music of Where Are We Going? an album that searched for salvation through house music. This record is far more open and giving, instead of being about just putting a fucking beat on the floor Octo Octa wants you to truly feel this. On "I Need You" there comes a brief moment of spoken word vocals where Octo Octa goes into just who this song is for, the people that matter the most in Her life. "Bodies Meld Together" however takes a different approach. Rather than this energetic full of life track like it's predecessor this song feels more meditative. You loose yourself in the beat, your mind and your body while everything just becomes one. It's like at a House show when it seems like all the conversations suddenly stop, people stop sipping their drinks and just move their bodies. It becomes this communal experience of a swath of people loosing themselves in the music and Octo Octa nails it so very well.

This is truly a wonderful and fun EP but you just wish there was more of it. Three tracks is not nearly enough even if they extend past the 20 minute mark. The light touch Octo Octa uses here is also pretty great. Nothing feels forced or over the top. Even with some of the better DJ/Producers out there they can often get into the weeds trying to be too extra. Octo Octa slides into this pocket and then allows you to stay in it for awhile and just explore. You gotta love an album where it takes you somewhere but doesn't force you to go. So much fun and so stunningly pretty Octo Octa has reached new heights in her career. There is only higher places to go from here, and that's a good thing.

8.0 out of 10