Album Review: Drapht – Seven Mirrors
Drapht recently returned to the spotlight with the release of his fifth full length album, Seven Mirrors. With five years in between albums, until last year with the release of the B-side, Dancin’ John Doe, things had been very quiet. Like most well established Australian Hip Hop artists in 2016 (or really any well-established artist), progression and ingenuity seems to be becoming a big part of creating a record. Australia, even in all its infancy, in the last five years has produced some ground breaking music on a global scale, and I believe it’s due to this ingenuity you’ll find in Drapht’s Seven Mirrors.
Production on the album is spotless. The gates are opened by the first single taken from the album earlier on in the year, All Love. You hear his fetish for flute two seconds in, which for Drapht fans is always a good sign. There are good bits and pieces about every song, which is something you can’t say about many albums. Although, for a handful, one could say that the chorus hindered their chances of being 100% tight as shit. What I mean by this, is, it just feels like some songs get built up so much, but when the chorus comes in, it doesn’t seem to match the calibre as the rest of the song…if that makes sense?
Monday Monday, a very relatable song to those in the hospitality world or just those days when nothing goes right. Drapht strategically opened a competition for budding Australian MCs to see what the next generation could throw down on the track in question, gaining massive popularity on social media around the release date. There’s lots of big band vibes about this album; horns, brass and all things orchestra have been thrown in the mix for this record. While at the same time there’s a few tracks that are really conservative, simply tapping into guitar riffs and drums. BAD feat. Nat Dunn, Don Quixote feat. Hilltop Hoods and Odds feat. Brendan Welch, all fall into this category.
Oikophobia and Another Juliet are two really standout tracks on the album, great production, great lyrics. With an all-star guest list including Australian punk misfits Dune Rats (which could be a sign of good things to expect throughout Australian music), one obvious aspect of this release is how much more singing Drapht personally does on the album. For most rappers this can be risky territory, too much, not enough, maybe they just shouldn’t be doing it at all, but, Drapht really does nail it. His verses in Asylum Feat. Joyride are a mix of rapid syllable phrasings, running off into little RnB-esk like vocal lines. It’s hard to tell whether it’s the lyrics or how Drapht chose to immerse himself in this album more is the thing that makes Seven Mirrors his most personal release yet.
Review by Travis Jordan.
