Alejandro Aranda - Baroque EP

Throughout the seven songs on Alejandro Aranda’s Baroque EP, there are flourishes of what makes him a great artist: a piano fluttering to life, his hands working briskly across the fretboard of a battle-worn acoustic guitar, and an interesting layer of instrumentation here and there. I had the chance to see Aranda over the summer, and he is a truly spectacular performer and artist. Which is why the seven songs on Baroque baffle me. The tracks feel like bare-bones MySpace/Y2K bedroom pop, and they barely scratch the surface of what I’ve known Aranda to be capable of. Even when songs start to leave a lasting impression (“Stir Crazy”), they are bogged down by flourishes of out-of-place Auto-Tune and minimalistic production. His voice barely seems to rise above a hush, looping the same lines over and over again until the effect wears off.

Songs like “Heartbeats” and “Falling4u” are catchy enough, but nearly every song on Baroque rehashes the same material of falling in love. I don’t tend to mind if someone releases an album filled with love songs that essentially say the same thing, but I care that they are interesting and leave an impression. Baroque closes on a rather sour note with the chaotic “Bad”, with Aranda rapping and singing as a maniacal piano line and haphazard production hide his vocals. Maybe he needed to get these songs out of his system.

Aranda’s previous effort, Farewell Superstar, showcased his abilities as a songwriter and performer with unique moments, genre-hopping, and a clear showcase of his singing range. Baroque feels like a misstep, and hopefully just a temporary one.