Timothy Lee McKenzie, artistically known as Labrinth, releases his new album Prelude, that brings opera, synthwave, soul and classical music into one place.
The 36-year-old songwriter, singer and producer, who produced the score for the popular HBO series “Euphoria,” returns with music that can be used in a theatrical show and gives the listener a new experience, where with one track you feel like you’re sitting in a dark room, the next you’re siting in a venue and then end up sitting alone at the top of the hills.
He begins the album with “Sophisticated People,” where the track begins with only Labrinth’s voice saying “…this place is for sophisticated people, I can’t trust you in my dreams, too much pressure for your low attention spam. By now you know this place is not for you, but since you stayed this long,” then he abruptly stops speaking and the sound of drums and violins proceed.
He could be referring to the world of fame or him speaking to the listener for what they are about to embark on this listening journey.
The following track “Pull Me In,” begins with opera singers in the background while Labrinth sings, “I feel your love calling me, I feel your love, but this time around I let it pull me in,” whoever he is referring to it’s clear he sings to a male figure. He continues to sing, “And still you wanna bring me back from the dead. Oh, sir, do you? Been so far, yeah, I've been so far from your grace.” Could he be referring to God or some higher power?
With a drum beat and water droplet sounds in the distance he sings, “I let it pull me in, yeah, I let it pull me in.” Whoever’s love is calling him, Labrinth will answer the call.
The violins return in “The Pick Me Up,” where Labrinth seems to be talking to himself. “Get your sorry fucking ass up out of here. You should be ashamed of yourself, for how low you stooped down in there. This hellhole looks like dump. This mildew smell like death and I'm giving up. By the gods, I’ll try again, so pick me up.”
If you’re feeling lazy or unmotivated you will relate to this song with lyrics, “I’m lying on these sheets, promising I'll leave, but from the dark, yeah. Woah, this isn’t good for me.” The track ends with only instrumentals. If you want a quick me up, this track will make your motivation return, especially as it leads to the next track “The Joy,” where opera singers will lift you up or at least it will feel as if you’re ascending, even if it’s only for 38 seconds.
In “Can’t Cure This,” Labrinth continues to speak to himself and describes a pain that is uncertain, but he knows money con’t cure it. “Stupid motherfucker, money can't solve them. Keep on talking shit, money can't cure this pain, pain, pain, pain.” Over experimental drum machine beats, he contradicts himself in needing money by singing, “In this pretty world of glittery things, all I need is to be a billionaire. In this prеtty world, just one antidote can reliеve it and I'll be whole again.”
Some say, “money can’t buy happiness,” and that may be true, but Labrinth knows for sure, money can’t cure this pain.
That may lead you to “Wonder” what pain he is referring to in the next track. As mainly an instrumental track, for 49 seconds you will simply be left wondering.
In “House on The Hill,” Labrinth wants to be taken to a place where the sun doesn’t shine. Over an electric beat, he repeats, “I'm gonna set your night on fire. I’m gonna bring your world alive. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, take me to where the sun don't shine.”
The track may give you the adrenaline rush of running up a hill and as you’re running you’re left with more electric beats and Labrinth repeating, “shine, shine, shine” over and over again.
Once you’re up the hill and have catched your breath, you will want to sit and have a “Moment of Peace” with the final track.
Instead of singing, Labrinth speaks to the listener, as in the first track, by saying, “I wrote this piece of music to help calm you down. So take a deep breath, close your eyes if you feel to and allow yourself to drift into the moment. Breathe, feel your body lift from the ground to weightlessness, leaving all the baggage you're carrying behind you. Worry, doubt, hurt, shame all falling away from your shoulders.” Over the strings, piano and clarinet, you will feel lighter and return to a calmer state of mind. Labrinth ends by saying “Go on, enjoy the rest of your day.”
The 8-track album is a reminder of the daily thoughts going on inside peoples brain on any given day. Labrinth is open with his thoughts and we can only wait to hear more of his thoughts in the next project.
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