Taken to Paradise

Café Lanai are an up and coming Canadian duo and Paradise is a great introduction to the pair. This EP has five songs filled with subtle tropical textures. The sound of Café Lanai here can best be considered a mixture of house, disco and some R&B vibes thrown in there for good measure. This could easily be the soundtrack to many listeners’ summer, and they will be left wanting more after each track is over.

Paradise begins with “Lanai,” which also happened to be Café Lanai’s first single from the EP. This track has several moments that make it seem like a recent R&B jam. The falsetto is interweaved and it rises from the background and becomes the main focus. The vocals are fascinating but it’s the beat itself that is catchy. It makes for a fun song to blast at full volume while riding around in a car.

The second track is “Le Stud,” which is more complex and difficult to describe. This one has a more tropical beat created by Café Lanai. The female vocals courtesy of member Forever (June Moon) are striking in the first half of the song. About midway through, member Michael Brock joins her and it becomes an even more melodic listen filled with gorgeous harmonies. “Girl Music” is the shortest track on Paradise. It’s a fast paced song filled with unique synthesizers that create a general house music sound. This is a track notable due to how different it is from the preceding tracks — the song is a straight up dance track while the others have slower sounds.

Following this is “So,” which is yet another song with a beat that truly stands out. This one also has catchy lyrics. “If I said I was alone/would you stop by?” In general, this has an R&B vibe that seems to be explored on this track in particular. However, the pair takes the R&B exploration even further with the final track “Sky Boyy,” which has few lyrics and more random yet beautiful sounds made by the pair. This is where Forever, or June Moon, sounds a lot like the late singer Aaliyah due to her powerful range. Brock and Moon’s voices blend together in an extremely natural fashion.

Café Lanai’s Paradise can be described as a brief but enjoyable debut EP. With this, they have showed how gifted they are at showcasing both light and dark songs. They have upbeat dance tracks followed by slower ballads that gradually become faster. It’s a natural balance that works best for them. They are true artists and the sky is the limit for them from here.