Ephemerals — The Third Eye — Album Review
Soul | R&B | Jazz
Listen in Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
It is the first week of 2020 where listeners are really starting to receive several albums worth of new music. And I can always trust my local record store, Resident, to make me aware of some interesting new projects. Case and point, The newest album from Ephemerals, The Third Eye.
The Third Eye is the fourth studio album from Soul duo Ephemerals, and my personal introduction to this artist. Judging simply from the brief exploration of their previous albums that I’ve made, This album seems to have a jazz influence thrown in to mix well with their soul formula that Ephemerals have been developing since 2014.
I believe that it is this jazzy soul blend that ultimately got my attention fixed on The third Eye, as I had developed much more of a love towards the genre of Jazz in 2019. Therefore, I felt that listening to this album would be a very appropriate way to continue broadening my high opinion of the genre.
The overall atmosphere of this album is quite cold in tone, as as urban as the setting seen on the album cover. It feel that with this, to release this album at the very beginning of the year makes a lot of sense.
It became fairly apparent to me that this album has a loose theme which revolves around gender identity, with the albums introduction “Poly” possibly being a nod to polygender people, or simply a love letter to the beauty and complexity of androgyny.
To add to the complexity of the album, The Third Eye has quite the diverse range of moods, spanning from serene, graceful, and gorgeous to vibrant, colourful, and upbeat, with a bunch of tracks really sticking out as unique amongst the rest. In particular, the track “Thiefin” feels like something that would probably fit better on the likes of Thundercat’s 2017 album Drunk.
The title of this album suggests a level of open-mindedness, and I feel that the project as a whole caters really well to listeners like myself, who enjoy a wide variety of musical moods and atmospheres.
Overall, I feel that the regal feel, along with socially relevant themes and the time of its release fitting well with its humbled tone, already gives the Third Eye an advantage. The way I feel towards this album currently is similar to how I felt about Nightmares On Wax’s Shape The Future, or Beirut’s Gallipoli. So fingers crossed, it may just grow on me to the point where it ranks just as highly.
Favourite Tracks: Blur | Coral | Thiefin
Least Favourite Track: Float
Jalapeno Ltd
