ALBUM OF THE DAY
Neggy Gemmy, “CBD Reiki Moonbeam”
By Natalie Marlin · May 03, 2023 Merch for this release:
Vinyl LP, Cassette, Compact Disc (CD)

Lindsey French has always kept her music light even when the heaviness of the world seeps into her songwriting. Previously recording under the name Negative Gemini, French found outlets for release in the intersection of dance-pop and house or by taking a lo-fi bedroom pop twist on the stylings of Angel Olsen. Her latest album comes with a name change—a playful shortening to Neggy Gemmy—and a shift in sound to follow suit, pushing her music’s capacity for releasing stress into bolder territory.

On CBD Reiki Moonbeam, French works in bigger and more confident forms of electronic pop than before without sacrificing her easygoing outlook. With influences ranging from Kylie Minogue to SOPHIE, French’s style is freewheeling, fluidly blitzing through languid dream pop (“california”) and pitched-up house (“beep beep”). On “black ferrari,” French’s pulsing, four-on-the-floor beat races and her newfound exhilaration is effervescent as she sings, “I never felt like this before.” Club-ready big beat highlight “gemmy juice” best exemplifies the expansiveness of French’s new approach, suddenly flipping to the low-end for a Sarah Bonito hook indebted to the iconic drops of Basement Jaxx.

What unites everything on CBD Reiki Moonbeam is its persistent vibe of blissed-out haze acting as a protective shroud against the pressures of the outside world. Each piece of the album title gets a track of its own, embodying different forms of escape via hyperpop house (“cbd”), ethereal jungle instrumentals (“reiki”), or interdimensional shoegaze/vaporwave transmissions (“moonbeam”). The occasional 180s between inspirations and modes only adds to how loose and free the record feels, with a palpable enthusiasm that never allows the endorphin high to dip for too long.

If there’s any track that best embodies what Lindsey French accomplishes with a new sonic palette at her disposal, it’s “daydream.” Though never veering from the song’s laid-back pop vibe, French subtly adds small flourishes to keep things bubbly—a synth string solo in one moment, a triumphant trumpet loop the next. Even at a whisper, French’s delicate pitch-shifted vocals soar and her words carry the high of love: “Chemicals burning inside/ Constellations shining in your eyes.” Whether by taking a deep breath or spending a night on the dancefloor, CBD Reiki Moonbeam represents a re-centering of the self.

Read more in Electronic →
NOW PLAYING PAUSED
by
.

Top Stories

Latest see all stories

On Bandcamp Radio see all

Listen to the latest episode of Bandcamp Radio. Listen now →