Swedish artist Mimi Bay's lust for dreamy lo-fi pop should carry a health warning. It's contagious and likely to cause minor dizziness. From the offset, when listening to any of her releases, you're hooked on her honeyed vocals, a velvety texture that makes you take notice and listen intensely. On her new EP far from home, Bay's jazz-infused sonics take on a world of their own, offering a hand for guidance to fully submerse yourself into her sphere, and carefully paving the way into her dazzling sounds.
Opening with "keep it", a lo-fi single layered with her mumbling vocals, the single is an introduction into a placid, meditative sound that continues throughout the EP. Using the single to discuss the inability to say how you're feeling, the single floats its intricate soft pop upon a calmness of synths. Whilst delving into R&B patterns on "all 4 nothing", it's jazzy single "no doubt" that amalgamates Bay's genre fludity. Laced with thoughts and feelings on disconnection, uncertainty and self-doubt, the single feels warm like hearing a song that feels so radiating – it provides similiar vibes to Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On", that cosy, uplifting feeling underscored with plush guitars.
On "pick me up", a collaboration with Stevan, the track sees a dreamy combination of vocals and romantic tones, while "b the same" is acoustic bliss. Bay's laidback vocals and almost DIY-sounding textures are dripping in silky tones. It's a closing track that leaves you feeling refreshed, a Sunday morning kinda refreshed, like you know the day is waiting to be seized and the world is your oyster.
far from home is a collection of lush sonics from an artist who's growth is infectious. Kept beating with a lo-fi heart, the EP wraps soothing melodies and intimate lines together in an oversized blanket of warmth. All the praise Mimi Bay gets for this EP is well-deserved, it's fluffy, lightweight and an all round comfort for the soul.
