Ta-ku

After months of teasing, Ta-ku‘s Songs To Make Up To is finally available and as if there was ever any doubt… it’s fantastic.

Even if you had high expectations for the album (like we did, based on the two singles that were released), its hard to not be pleasantly surprised by the beautiful narrative Ta-ku has created through his music. At 7 tracks in length, the album opens up with a vinyl-noise-laden electric piano intro with Hopeful (an instrument that will play a part throughout the album) which is answered by Love Again ft. JMSN & Sango which we featured back in April. Trust Me sets itself apart from the rest of the album with its heady, ebbing synths and harmonic tension working to portray the complicated emotions that accompany the renewal of a betrayed faith. Finally, Ta-ku closes out the second half of the album with three lovely features from Atu, Jordan Rakei, and Sunni Colón and the whole thing is bookended with Work In Progress, a solo piano piece that creates very thoughtful symmetry with the opening track.

Whereas Songs To Break Up To (though amazing) felt like it got a little long towards the end, Ta-ku has done an excellent job in his follow-up creating a piece that tells a story while being incredibly mindful of aesthetics– at no point does any track feel formulaic or repetitive. Unlike most albums which are easily picked apart for singles, Songs To Make Up To truly benefits from a full-listen through so one can absorb the unique character of each track in relation to the others. There are levels to this ****.

But enough talking about it! Stream the album below and if you’re feeling it, you can cop the album on Bandcamp for a mere $7 (all vinyl are already sold out!)