To call BROCKHAMPTON’s new album jarring would be an understatement. iridescence is eclectic, loud, aggressive and chaotic yet fucking beautiful. If you’re new to BROCKHAMPTON, iridescence may not be the best place to start but let us illustrate what makes this album so incredible regardless.
Ear-bending production:
Romil, Jabari and the boys have built some mind-blowing tracks for this album. There are clear influences from Kanye West, Mike Dean, Clams Casino, Travis Scott and Tyler, The Creator on these beats. BROCKHAMPTON have always been known for their dynamic and detailed sounds, but this album steps it up to a whole other level. Tracks like VIVID, FABRIC and J’OUVERT sound like a beautiful car crash in your eardrums and BERLIN sounds like it was pulled straight from Travis Scott’s ASTROWORLD.
Team Effort:
With Ameer Vann leaving the group after two historical sexual assault allegations, there was a long period where the dynamic of the group was in flux. The balance they’d formed between delicate and rough was thrown off, and the emotional bond of the group was in jeopardy. After a variety of unfulfilled album announcements, the boys moved to London and made this album in a matter of weeks. It seems like the best decision they could’ve made. The album feels like it has come from a fresh and renewed group. It’s succinct with each member picking up the weight that Ameer took when he left.
The whole package:
Auckland’s screening of The Longest Summer In America, and it’s subsequent Q&A, was an intimate affair. The BROCKHAMPTON boys chose to sit amongst the fans and watch with us, laughing at odd moments where clearly an inside joke had occurred on-screen. The documentary itself pulls no punches, and really exemplifies just how honest the band are with their fans. Their handling of ‘The Ameer Allegations’ is documented down to the minute, and unreleased/never to be released music is sprinkled throughout — one of the most incredible being a fully shot music video that sees Ameer delve into his depression, and the fact that being a part of the group saved his life.
As for the show at Logan Campbell Centre, BROCKHAMPTON proved they were true professionals, singing and rapping their hearts out even with sound issues that meant as an audience, we could barely hear the vocals. After playing iridescence front to back, the boys returned to the stage for an encore of hits from the Saturation Trilogy, sending fans home happy singing along to classic tracks like Bleach and Sweet.
BROCKHAMPTON really delivered a treat for their Kiwi fanbase unlike any international act has done before. Over the span of just 24 hours, fans in New Zealand got a screening of the bands new documentary, a Q&A, a new album, and a premiere live performance of said album. I’d bet on nothing even close to that happening on our shores again for a very long time. So treasure the memories, and let iridescence bleed colour into your life.
