Red Visions; a Lo-fi Hip Hop Album with Trippy Synths and Ethereal Emotions

"Red Visions" is a phenomenal lo-fi hip hop album by Izabela.Dotts that explores different emotions and genre influences, most notably synthwave and chillwave. It's remarkable to think that this is her first album as she showcases a variety of different moods throughout her album in a way that shows a curiosity for the different creative possibilities inherent in music and any form of self-expression. One moment, you can be listening to the opening track, "Lonely," and feel as if you were reflecting on gloomy thoughts while picturing a rainy cyberpunk setting. But then, when you listen to the subsequent tracks, "Neon Lights," and, "Asami," you might feel a myriad of different emotions - hope, euphoria, curiosity and a deep kind of meditation which makes you not only feel the music at an abstract level but a level of consciousness that tunes into the deep mysteries of imagination and cosmic mystery.

In "Neon Lights," the album shifts from contemplative gloom to a joyful and blissful sound. The guitar has a soothing quality to it while the bells and vocals have a powerful pleasantness to them that makes one want to relax on the beach with friends while enjoying the sight of the sea and horizon. The desire for adventure springs to mind when listening to tracks like "Asami" and "Night Rides." In "Asami," much like "Lonely," the instrumentation has a cyberpunk sci-fi feeling to it with the drums, strings and mood bringing to mind protagonists in futuristic worlds yearning to understand the truth about their lives or the mysteries of the universe, protagonists who have no choice but to go through perilous odds to unravel the secrets hidden in the story's plot. "Night Rides" has an even more perilous tone to it that would go great with a well-edited montage of cinematic action scenes. The vocals shift between emotionally powerful one moment to subtle ambience with a mysterious feeling while the drums go in hard along with chaotic synths.

After the action-packed "Asami" and "Night Rides" comes "Purple Haze" which also provides a great transition to another mood. This is a more relaxing and laid back track with trippy synths and a subtle synthwave influence with chill drum beats and a soothing guitar melody. After this, "Most Wanted," brings the album back to an action-packed vibe with sound effects and a guitar melody that brings to mind Quentin Tarantino films and the anime, Samurai Champloo. For fans of the musician, "Shigeto," they'll enjoy the track, "Kyoto," for its trippy, relaxing synths, simplicity and badass drum beat.

"Scarface" has, unsurprisingly, the most menacing tone out of all the tracks in the album. The harrowing vocal ambiance and haunting strings might make one picture a protagonist going through an all-or-nothing climax in a film where the plot and world are dark, gritty and unforgiving. But then comes, "Andromeda," which, while still possessing a somewhat dark tone, has a really pleasant atmosphere created by a really fun variety of synth melodies that make you want to dance, play Nintendo games or look through a telescope while wondering if we are not alone in this universe. It really is the kind of track that makes you feel a lot of different emotions, especially if you're into sci-fi. Concluding the album is "Shadows," which is one of my favorites on the album. It gives me the feeling of departing for a great adventure towards mysterious worlds and new possibilities, the kind of departure that is bittersweet and combines feelings of nostalgia, sorrow, excitement and joy all at once. This track, along with "Andromeda," is a delight for anyone who is in love with synthesizers and sci-fi culture.

If you're into synths, lo-fi hip hop and sci-fi or just want to listen to an album that provides you with a wide variety of shifting emotions for self-reflection, then check out, "Red Visions", by Izabela.Dotts which is available on her Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1yJTIMFNFh42irSBmcInrC

You can follow her at:

https://www.bandlab.com/isabellsdott

https://www.instagram.com/cristina.izabela.2597/

Thank you for reading my album review! If you'd like to check out my music, which is a blend of hip hop, electronic and synthwave, you can find my work at:

https://soundcloud.com/terencethedreammaker

https://www.youtube.com/@terenceimdreammaker

https://terenceim.bandcamp.com