Fdluxx - Half Awake (Vinyl)

Featuring the talents of not only Fdluxx, but Lord Apex, Riche, Garot Michael Conklin and Redline, “Half Awake” is overflowing with imagination and an array of perspectives. Each track is brimming with it’s own unique character, but there is an emotional heaviness to each track that binds them together as a whole and complete project.

Though emotive, and at times tinged with a bittersweet sadness, Fdluxx’s sound palette for this album is one of a floaty or dreamy quality, as if you’re slowly sailing through clouds. This is especially evident in tracks such as “Azizam (feat. Garot Michael Conklin)” or “Stay Close”, which are laden with sentimentality and warmth, truly putting the emphasis on the ‘sweet’ in ‘bittersweet’. Overall, Fdluxx has really driven home the idea of being in a dream state, or indeed ‘half awake’. There is this feeling throughout, of not quite being connected to reality, but of wandering around in an introspective daze, thinking of love, loss or distant places. A work of art which pushes the limits of what is classified as lo-fi hip hop, “Half Awake” is comparable to cherry blossoms in the spring: full of life, yet fragile and fleetingly beautiful.