Chiiild’s Debut EP Redefines Psychedelic Soul
American poet Debasish Mridha once wrote, “Music can heal the wounds which medicine cannot touch.” We are living in a time that quite frankly feels like an episode of The Twilight Zone. As a recent college graduate, I have entered possibly one of the most challenging job markets imaginable. Feelings of stress and uncertainty are circulating amongst my peers. Additionally, we are experiencing all of this from the entrapment of our homes — with our parents. You can no longer run and hide, so to speak, from their endless inquiries like, “What progress have you made on your job search?” and “Have you heard back from anywhere you’ve applied to yet?” by ignoring their phone calls. They know where you live now and they will find you. Talk about adding fuel to the fire.
Despite all the madness, I have tried to take this time in quarantine to focus on my overall well-being and make sure I’m taking care of myself. In other words, I’ve been doing what I always do in times of uncertainty and have turned to music to lead my soul-search. As a result, I have decided to start a series of blog posts (that no one asked for) to share some of my favorite music that I’ve discovered and have been listening to during this time. I’ve chosen to dedicate my first post to discussing Chiiild’s debut EP, Synthetic Soul.
Chiiild is a Montreal-based experiential soul band that has recently emerged onto the Indie scene. One of the group’s most notable features is their use of genre-bending, with their sound deriving from a wide variety of influences, including jazz, R&B, pop and psychedelic soul. They have coined the term “synthetic soul” to describe their unique sound, hence the title of their EP.
From start to finish, Synthetic Soul brings the listener into a dream-like trance. It is brilliantly crafted, as it comes full circle with a nearly identical instrument arrangement in both the opening of the first track “Count Me Out” and at the end of the closing track “Easy on Yourself.” Chiiild hit the nail on the head by describing their sound as a “mixture of old and new” that evokes both feelings of nostalgia and inspiration. Sounds of ’60s inspired bluesy guitar riffs are layered with bright drum beats throughout the EP. This juxtaposition of old and new sounds creates a vibrant soundscape. Other small touches like the placement of light static at the beginning of “Darling” that resembles the sound of a record player or old film, puts the listener in a state of dreamy romanticism. The R&B style vocals add an emotional element to the uplifting psychedelic instrumentation. With this EP, Chiiild has proved that they’ve mastered the art of combining a variety of influences to create a distinctive sound that cannot be categorized into a single genre.
Synthetic Soul is one of those EPs that you listen to for the first time and immediately know it’s one that you’ll continue to listen to for years to come. It’s not a “hot for the moment” kind of work that you listen to for a few weeks and then forget about, but rather a timeless masterpiece. It’s also unique in the fact that every single song on the EP is equally refined. The recognition it has received is not from just one or two good songs but its artistic greatness as a whole. Synthetic Soul is a game-changing addition to my quarantine playlist, and to reference the Debasish Mridha quote I mentioned earlier, it’s just what the doctor ordered.
