The Riff’s February 2024 Album of the Month Club
Join us on February 18th, 4 pm EST, details below.
Hosting For The Fourth Time
Whenever I hear Nicole talk about music, I gain a newfound passion for it. She practically glowed during our January Album Club Discussion, and I couldn’t be happier. Adele’s 19 is a unique album, and I’m glad I relived that first album-listening experience in preparation for that meeting. Seeing everyone’s faces again was heartwarming as well. It’s been too long, but I’m back for good now. In fact, I’m actually the new host for the February meeting!
I will be hosting my fourth Album Club Discussion meeting next month. I knew I hadn’t hosted the talk in a while, but I was astounded when I double-checked and realized how long ago it was (15 months). Time can seriously escape us when we focus on something else.
For me, that was growing my Medium page, expanding into Substack, and creating a more prominent social media presence. Now that those ventures are doing well, I am comfortable diving back in with my friend and chatting about the albums we know and love.
For context, I chose the below albums for my last three hosting rounds:
I love each of these albums with all of my heart. They represent different periods of my life and showcase the emotions and feelings I prioritized at the time.
For example:
- Process helped me through an unexpected and crushing breakup in my first year out of college.
- What Chaos Is Imaginary helped me mentally manage some of my existential questions while living abroad in China.
- Songs was a warm companion who helped me meditate on who and what I wanted in my life during the cool fall months of lockdown.
All of these albums came out when I needed them most. They were life jackets thrown in my direction when I felt like I was drowning. In May 2022, another life jacket appeared in album form. This album, and my February album choice, is Forest In The City by Umi.
Finding Peace And Resolve Through Music
Why did I need that album?
I needed Forest In The City for its powerful themes about nature and our relationship to it as city dwellers. Through the project, Umi is reconciling our need for nature with our love for community in a busy city. Her album showed me that we can reach proper equilibrium once we make these two things complement one another rather than compete.
At the time, I was working remotely right outside New York City, with occasional office meetings from time to time. While the benefits of remote work are immense, the longer I worked at home, the more detached I felt from my coworkers and myself. Not only did this create disunity at my job, but it left me numb to the effect we were having on the students we supported abroad.
During this professional and mental crisis, I came across Forest In The City. I was familiar with Umi from collaborations, most notably on Joyce Wrice’s album highlight “That’s On You” (Also my 2021 song of the year). I always enjoyed Umi’s calming presence in a song and her mindful messages about being present and finding peace within yourself.
A Period Of Healing
After listening to Forest In The City more times than I can count, I was able to determine the source of my social and psychological problems and what steps I could take to fix them.
By the end of the summer of 2022, I couldn’t thank Umi enough for her support through music. I was also super proud of her as a growing artist in R&B. While R&B is commercially excelling, its subject matter is losing some of its moral clarity and appreciation for positive love.
Umi, on the other hand, is a sharp contrast to this trend. Instead, she has a beautiful brand of R&B that features soothing vocals, meditative production, and therapeutic songwriting. She’s a healer, and her music doesn’t just heal individuals like me, who feel a little broken sometimes, but they can heal the world. And right now, it feels like the world needs rigorous, expansive, and intentional healing.
I’m excited to discuss Umi’s work and background in this month’s meeting. If you know me, you know I love PowerPoints, so I will give you her full background in addition to what she’s been up to lately in my presentation. For this specific conversation, the main subject will be Forest In The City and its beautiful songs and themes.
I am looking forward to discussing it with you all. :)
If you want to join, please click the Zoom link HERE.
We’re a pretty friendly bunch! If you don’t want to talk during the discussion, you don’t have to. If you like to, hop in, and don’t be afraid to speak your mind.
