Junior Mesa - “Far Out”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 2

Pairs Well With…Jasper Bones, Toro y Moi, Mac DeMarco

California newcomer Junior Mesa digs into soulful, chillwave R&B on his debut EP Peace, a mildly psychedelic record laid down with a woozy, breezy disposition. There’s a sense of calm that resides through Peace, a record that pulls in influences from 60s/70s pop music and filters them through Mesa’s contemporary, melancholy lens. It’s a sound that’s both pretty and comforting, holding back while still keeping a keen sense of precision under his deceptively hazy umbrella. The bedroom-rock recording of Peace gives the six tracks a sense of distance, peering in through a dreamlike state rather than over-embracing the inherent sunniness in Mesa’s music. While freely cool in his approach, Mesa adds some cinematic flair to tracks like piano-pop trip-out “Far Out” and lounge-jazz groove “Long Title”, harkening back to classic pop croons with tender nostalgia. (Kevin McStravick)