war outside — Kamal. | EP Review
An impressive debut project from the young British musician Kamal.
It will be almost impossible to crown any particular song as the soundtrack to what was a very difficult 2020 for most of the world. However, the increased prominence of lo-fi music since last year is unmistakable. A happy coincidence for British teenager Kamal., whose single “Homebody” released last year, went somewhat viral. Even though the lyrics were broadly misunderstood, “Homebody” was an easily relatable tune for many young people who had been stuck indoors, and it represented some sort of release for all the emotions that the situation came with. It is dipped quite significantly in lo-fi sauce though and that, combined with some smooth vocals and emotive lyricism made it quite an attractive package. After that and a couple of other singles, excitement was building for his first big project and with the EP war outside, he does not disappoint.
“lose”, released about a month before as a teaser, is the first song on the EP and it contains a lot of the elements that make up war outside. It presented itself like a nice, warm blanket on a cool night. The clean melody allowing Kamal. to lay on words about finding yourself within a relationship that may have grown larger than you intended it to. A collection of strings and well-arranged background vocals which sound eerily comforting round it off, a fitting introduction to the project.
The title track “war outside” seeks to speak about the complexities of a romantic relationship while also giving us an insight into the feelings of anxiety Kamal. endured during the extended period indoors. It is a somber track, apt for the feelings being expressed on it. Where “lose” excels, however, “war outside” falls slightly short. Its pace, which is a function of those emotions feels like it could benefit from a more dynamic chorus like that of its predecessor but overall it does a decent job of communicating its message.
“duvet interlude” could be described as leaning closer towards a spoken word performance than a song and because of that, it grants greater focus to the lyrics which once again are filled with emotion. “Should’ve never left it, but I left it and I’m moving on / You should do the same”. The painful process of separation from a love interest plays out on it before a neat melody provides a transition to “homebody”. “Rather than being an actual homebody, I wrote this about feeling secluded in your own head. In a sense, the home I was speaking of is actually a metaphor for my mind,” Kamal. explained, as the intended meaning for the song even though it found widespread success as a sort of loner’s anthem. I can’t imagine that causes him too much heartache but it presents yet another interesting case of how music can serve as a conduit through which people release their emotions even if those emotions are not exactly the same as what the artist originally intended.
“angel!” and “little pieces” further exhibits Kamal.’s ability to convey intense emotion through strong writing on a foundation of well-produced sounds. “curfew” has an ever so slightly up-tempo feel to it. In the midst of the other, more mellow tracks the change is apparent and welcome. It brings something a little different to the table and rounds out the project quite nicely.
The visuals that Kamal. has released for songs on this EP are noteworthy as well. At first, they may come across as a simple manifestation of the fact that he is still starting out as an artist but upon further inspection, his videos — which feature him as the sole actor, interesting camera work, and in the case of “war outside”, a dark theme — see to very deliberate creative choices. It is very impressive to see him attempt to tie together the aesthetic of the project not just through the lyrics and the music but the videos as well. It may be a bit far-fetched to call this a “concept EP” but it looks like he is not one who would shy away from centering all aspects of a project around a theme(s) and that makes me quite excited for his next full-length body of work. His performance on Dave’s “Mercury” as well deserves mention and it is a little indication of what he can do alongside another artist.
Kamal. seems to have found a sweet spot in his still-nascent career and on war outside he does his best to strike as close to it as possible. That produced a decent EP that does a lot of good things even if it comes at the expense of some variety of sounds we received. In the context of this being a debut project that is something that can and probably should be overlooked. There are good vibes coming from Kamal.’s direction and hopefully, we get more of them on his coming work.
Listen to war outside and let me know what you think!
