Beginning with the gentle distortion and ambient waves of DND, agmdre’s latest EP B4SUMMER kicks off with a fine balancing of softness and emotional intensity. The opening track pours through in waves of weight and softness intermittently, the voice guiding us through fearlessly vulnerable lyrics, while this modern beat confidently rolls on.
agmdre – pronounced a.g.m dre – is a Canadian artist with an increasingly sharp connection to modern songwriting and production. His music has always set an immersive and relevant mood, but this latest project seems all the more ambitious in many ways – a deeply introspective collection, with dreamy and smooth beats, a vocal passion that’s captivating, and a tone and identity that are instantly recognisable.
SLIDE 4 U follows and lifts the energy somewhat, still maintaining that lo-fi ambient approach. We get a vocal melody here that feels more RnB or reggaetón than anything purely emo as the opener may feel. The rhythm of the voice, the subtle call and response, all helps weave this earworm of a track into your mind, and the loving vibrancy and devotion of the lyrics works beautifully in unison.
SPIN then reflects on personal mistakes, gifting a moody ambiance with a trap rhythm, and a more impassioned, louder vocal thread, blending aspects of modern rap and melody across another wave-like artistic progression that naturally follows the changing stages of the story.
Finally, SECRETS takes things back to the fearlessly mellow – a heavy beat contrasting the humble tempo and these drawn-out vocals that feel desperate to connect. The song gets vulnerable again, poetic yet personal, with snappy rhyming patterns and an overall tiredness that suits the sense of loneliness and reflection that is the lyrics. Here agmdre’s performance reaches new levels of dynamic, veering between quiet and more confident or faster to rain down, and doing so with seamless ability and style.
A well-rounded EP from agmdre, refreshingly honest and heartfelt but still perfectly in keeping with the professionalism and moody ambiance required to reach out to a modern audience. It’s a step in a deeply thoughtful direction, and the design and songwriting alike help agmdre carve out a modestly distinct lane.
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