"Euphoria" by Infinity Frequencies

Rating: 9/10

There's just something beautiful about simplicity. Infinity Frequencies still has one of my favorite albums on tap, and it's actually considered one of their weakest, surprisingly. This album puts me back into a core memory I have. I place myself in my basement when I lived in Boston with the lights off. The basement had no windows, so lights off was dark. Super dark. I'd sit at my computer with just the light of the computer monitor creating shadows across the room, vape in hand, slowly making beams of light through the fog. And it'd be that mindset of no energy, loss, depression, and even a timelessness that held me there. It's that mindset that this album always brings me back to; that specific place. So let's dive in!

This entire album has been described as hypnogogic pop, and the best way to describe it to me is just small loops/clips of pop music from the 80s slowed down and repeated ad nauseum. Now, why this album is so special (at least to me) is because it really and truly shows the the power of one of the main tenants of vaporwave: recontextualization. My eyes were opened when I realized how something as simple as slowing and pitching down audio can completely change the power and effect that music can have on you. Songs like Deal With God and I Just Died In Your Arms are classic 80s bangers, but now, looped and slowed and spaced out, they seem to take on a completely different meaning. Rock Me feels melancholic, slow vocal wailing, but strangely uplifting and peaceful at the same time. Wild, right?

Promises is almost synonymous with this album to me, immediately drawing me into that mental state I described earlier. The album artwork doesn't hurt here either; it's neon lit, dark, smokey, moody, and mysterious. This hits on another main point that vaporwave tends to hit with its principles: packaging is important. The point of anonymitity behind the artists who make the music is to highlight the product and how the product is delivered. Nothing else can tie it together so well. Anyway, the key to getting through this album is to accept it with an open mind, and to just let it wash over you. Lay down on the floor, lights off, stare at the ceiling, and let it take you somewhere else.

-teig