The cover art, using letters written in the style of an age-old optical
illusion, sets the tone for what’s inside: You can dance to it, you can
chill to it, but whatever you do, look closely so that you really
appreciate everything that’s there. The fourth release from New
Zealand’s Involve records is the third solo release from Bevan Smith.
Giving it Up… is immediately accessible with it’s opening track, “85%,”
which is as lush a soundscape as you could expect from a country where
many people still feel safe enough to leave their front doors unlocked.
Although he shifts between strict ambient chill and hip-hop beats,
Signer still weaves a cohesive thread through tracks to make the album
hold as one eclectic unit.
The music itself is filled with sounds so plush velvet that they suck
you in when you touch them. Moods range from “In my Convertible With
The Top Down in the Countryside” to “My Girlfriend Just Left Me For
Good, Now What Am I Going to Do” to “Maybe I’ll Go Get Laid and Think
About It Later.” It is perhaps these different moods that keeps me from
enjoying each and every track like I have on some of the prior Involve
releases. In the end that matters little, though, because I’ve just set
my CD player on Repeat All. Again. Hear more at the Involve Records website.
