It\’s been a long time coming for Pittsburgh based music producer, Mr FijiWiji. Having been signed to independent record label Monstercat in October of 2011, the progression of his chief artform and production has been great, compelling, and equally thrilling to watch over the last three years. However, today marked another addition to the chapter of that progression. The release of Mr FijiWiji\’s third EP entitled Growing Up took place promptly around 1pm ET. With much of the mass of the Monstercat, FijiWiji fans and electronic music enthusiasts prepared for this release, many promptly swarmed the new release.
Track by Track
Following the name of the EP, the first track is called Growing Up. The track offers a promising piano entry and quickly kicks it up a notch with a incisive percussion and vocal by Openwater. Providing a contrasting theme, Beautiful takes a downtempo route which provokes a feeling of journey and livelihood through melodic pianos and dreamy basses. Finishing off these complementing sounds, Laura Brehm contributes an ambient-esque vocal. The track serves as a medium for developing the EP as the sound remains constant while we move into Evolution, a song demonstrating Laura Brehm\’s original vocal in a finesse vocal mash, similar pianos and big, vibrant synths. All these things, put to good use, prove effective to making this production a worthy future sound. Moving into the latter part of the EP, we are welcomed with Believe Her which follows a unique deep house orient and Yours Truly, which serves as a prime recollection of the variety of sounds on the album, pitching new elements and featured artist, Danyka Nadeau taking the mic to compliment the production.
\”The Good, lots of it. The Bad, not so bad after all.\”
Though this EP truly is outstanding: it still carries some understandable minor downsides, as many bodies of music do. Similar introductions have an intended welcoming and mood to set for the track, however, tend to become more repetitive in manner. Among others, the lack of a non-ambient, more meaning-driven detailed vocal from Laura Brehm on this EP came as a disappointment in some ways.
It is only fair to honor the proof that of validation of artistic integrity coming from the \”paperbag master-man\” that most know as Mr FijiWiji and let it be said: the EP doesn\’t need to be perfect, and we shouldn\’t expect that of any artist. There\’s a margin for some improvements, but there is a definite evolution of style and creativity from previous singles and EPs that proves genuine about Mr FijiWiji\’s style. Perhaps, this ingenuity in FijiWiji\’s music is what personally has set him apart from many others on the Monstercat label and in electronic music in general in a larger term. This said, the development of that ingenuity, creative and artistic demand, and other important factors like such have put myself and others in a state of pure excitement. This release contributes a great deal to that hunger for new music and future releases by Mr FijiWiji in this year are sure to equally contribute to that. The year is still young and so is Mr FijiWiji as an artist – despite being a producer for almost half a decade now, so I think it\’s fair [and quite honestly, equally exciting] to say Mr FijiWiji isn\’t going anywhere quite soon. However, his music is Growing Up and that\’s quite special.
