LJA - "I Need Some Rest"

I Need Some Rest, the new EP from Hoboken, New Jersey bedroom pop artist LJA, speaks to the confusing inner-turmoil that can overwhelm during isolation. The collection of beat-driven bedroom recordings has the cyclical effect of running laps inside your head, exploring those dense spaces by replaying scenarios in an attempt to better understand yourself. The songs are personal ones for Louis Aligo, the songwriter behind LJA, as several of them reflect his own struggles with chronic illness and mental health. It’s a collection of somber, contemplative bedroom recordings with some biting rhythms that’s noticeably darker when compared with his 2019 EP, Homely.

There’s a familiar ambience to the EP’s opening tracks, “Bedtime Novels” and It’s Just Different” that’s both placating and chilly, recalling the misty hues of  The Campfire Headphase-era Boards of Canada, but more pared down. The stripped-down nature of the instrumentation really also allows Aligo to accentuate specific elements, particularly, beats and rhythms that grow harder and more persistent as the EP moves forward. Songs towards the middle of the EP, like “It’s Just Different” and “In Silence,” feature some skittering samples with Aligo singing in a strained falsetto, while “Dead Love” incorporates some light flickers of guitars with Aligo pouring over lingering heartbreak and loneliness: “I can’t say I care for love songs / It’s unreal that I’m feeling lonely this long.” It’s a brooding mood that carries over into the more soulful and propulsive “Forgetting It Slowly” and “Eyes of Kindness,” a song with delicate, but deliberate guitar riffs. The EP closes with “One Can Only Dream,” a floaty, ambient number with atmospheric guitars and lyrics that grapple with the toils of sleepless nights.

I Need Some Rest is available to purchase via Bandcamp.  You can also stream the album on your platform of choice, including Spotify.