It’s cold where I am. The afternoon sky, instead of a bright orange-red hue, is in shades of gray. The rain never ceases, and if it does, the sullen weather remains. It’s the perfect weather for sentimentality, for hugot moments, and for would-be misanthropes and people withdrawing from society. I think we’ve all been in this mind state given that we encounter this type of weather for months at a time. I think you know what I’m talking about. Choice music would accompany, even elevate, the mood I’m in. The “free time” from the holidays give us time to break out of our mechanical routine and headspace too, to reflect.
Night In is also mood-driven r&B, much like Jess Connelly’s low-tempo bops, but it’s also earnest—cohesively so— in its desire. What desire? The desire to break your heart. It broke mine.
Dot.jaime and Jason Dhakal’s joint release came at the perfect time. The six-track EP is warm, tender, hypnotic, and sentimental: There is as much the feeling of affection as there is the feeling of pain in this EP. Night In is also mood-driven r&B, much like Jess Connelly’s low-tempo bops, but it’s also earnest—cohesively so— in its desire. What desire? The desire to break your heart. It broke mine.
The follow-up to Aftermath, Jason Dhakal draws out feelings of longing and distance throughout the whole album. With the keen production of dot.jaime, each song, though similar in terms of mood, aren’t just mere echoes of each other. Instead they share a strong emotional resonance. “Here” feels like a Frank Ocean track with it’s melodic spareness. The latter part of “Get It Together, Part 1” feels cathartic with its repetition. “Closure” is its namesake: a fitting end.
“Baby if you could/remember the last time/you said that you loved me”
I admit that I can’t follow all the words being uttered Time In, but I hear just enough: “Baby if you could/remember the last time/you said that you loved me,” begins “Closure.” It lets me hear all the details too: Jason’s rasping lisp, the keys and drums subtle but distinct. Remember the names Jason Dhakal and dot.jaime. Not just for their future projects—the world is theirs if they continue to release music—but for you to play this EP when you find yourself in one of these moods.