Review
Analog synthesizer pads drift through clipped drum machine snaps, muffled telephone recordings, and the elastic rumble of electric bass. Across Intentions, acoustic instruments continually nudge against quantized rhythms: Ahmad Muhammad’s Juno and acoustic piano blur into soft room tone, while Will Miller’s electronic valve instrument and trumpet bleed around stacked, dryly recorded vocal lines. Megiapa layers her harmonies into tightly spaced chordal washes, using human breath to soften the rigid grid of her beat loops.
The sequencing unfolds like an unhurried tape exchange where pieces dissolve into ambient drift rather than hitting hard stops. Spoken fragments and looping breaks regularly yield to buoyant, ensemble-assisted excursions, notably on the sprawling reimagining of Rotary Connection's “Black Gold of the Sun” and the slow-rolling, horn-lined ache of “Can't Believe”. Megiapa navigates the step from solitary sampler work to full-band orchestration with calm fluidity, balancing cosmic synth excursions with close-mic vocal warmth.
