An Uncharted Crossover

In the world of electronic music, the crossover is nothing new. Ever since the ’80s, artists have been incorporating electronic elements into their music to add more popular appeal. In recent years it’s become popular to tap a big name producer to contribute on a major pop track or to have a major pop artist guest feature on a major electronic album. On Too Real, Giraffage attempts a unique twist on the pop feature by tapping upcoming indie artists to feature on his uniquely vibe-y constructions and the results speak for themselves.

Giraffage may not be the most well known producer of the modern era, but even then he is no slouch. He has seen success playing on main stages at festivals like HARD Summer, even though they were early day sets. His music video for “Tell Me” has gone viral with its fantastically strange concept and visuals. With Too Real he looks to extend himself further into his passion rather than hop on the next big trend. The result of this is an album that is uniquely his, and unmistakably original and fun.

The songs themselves are bright and twinkling, often featuring a sound that could be reminiscent of tropical house or tropical pop, but if you took out all the big booming back end of those genres. Songs like “Green Tea,” which features the vocals of Angelica Bess, is comprised of tongue clicks and lightly tapped hi-hats, the body of the track shows off a knowledge of funk with its ultra catchy bass groove. The song is endlessly fun, and provides a great glimpse into what makes Giraffage’s music so successful and enjoyable. He tends to avoid the route of build-drop-build-drop that has plagued EDM for the past ten or more years, making his music a breath of fresh air in a genre so often inhibited by its consistent need for high energy.

Some of the other standouts on the record are “Maybes” and “Earth.” “Maybes” features the vocal talents of Japanese Breakfast, which makes for an exciting combination of the worlds of popular electronic and indie rock. The song itself is spaced out even by Giraffage standards, starting slowly with a smooth building synth line that rides directly into a reverb laden vocal performance by Japanese Breakfast. The production on the track is vibey throughout and features crisp rim shots and snare that never overpower the vocals but instead serve as a grounding element that prevents the track from becoming too ethereal. The chorus line is much more energetic than the rest of the song but still manages to avoid feeling like a “drop” in the standard sense. The combination of all these elements makes for a memorable performance from both Giraffage and Japanese Breakfast.

“Earth,” on the other hand is one of the more intense songs on the record. It begins with a xylophone-like instrument, played softly, then leads into a sort of electronic woodwind. The whole opening section sounds as though it could be a remix of a song from a Legend of Zelda game. Halfway through the track, an unexpectedly thick-textured modular synth slides in from the background and the brightness of the track fades away into a surprisingly intense break that sounds more like Rezz than anything else. The rest of the track proceeds much like the others on the album have up until this point, but the middle section provides a glimpse as to how Giraffage is always holding back ever so slightly, and could seemingly make any type of electronic music he desires.

He may not be a household name but Giraffage may be one of the most talented producers currently putting out work. His combination of pop knowledge and mastery of vibed out tropical elements put him in a unique place within the genre. He could easily become one of the more popular DJ’s in coming years, at this point it just seems to be a matter of time. Until that day comes though, fans can rest easy knowing that even if he does blow up, he’ll do it on his own terms.