Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
Since 2015, Terra Lopez has been on an emotional rollercoaster. The San Diego-born musician lost both her father and her best friend in the span of six months, and later weathered the loss of her voice and the dissolution of her band, Sister Crayon. Now a solo artist under the name Rituals of Mine, Lopez uses futuristic R&B and bass-heavy electronic music to create a soundtrack to moments where self confidence, exhilaration, disappointment, rage, and love are given voice through beautifully crafted melodies, all of them striving to reach the light rather than sinking into the darkness below.
Throughout Hype Nostalgia, Lopez’s soft, sweet voice is underscored by rippling, piano-driven melodies, broken beats, and sparse synths; but her lyrics always cut deep. R&B ballad “Come Around Me” details the travails of queer women of color in the music industry; “Heights” captures the moment when bottled-up emotions bubble to the surface. ”Trauma,” “Post Trauma,” and “Free Throw” veer from the album’s slow-burn approach, introducing darker elements into the mix. Sludgy synths, hard trap beats, and chopped-and-screwed samples provide a canvas against which Lopez explores inherited trauma. The album closes with the bare piano ballad “The Last Wave,” a touching tribute to her father that also serves as an act of recognition—coming face to face with grief, and accepting a new reality. If Hype Nostalgia is a rollercoaster, “The Last Wave” is the sound of Lopez stepping off and bravely facing her changed world.
