Trip Review

The intention is not in doubt. Aiko lost her brother, went looking for oblivion, and made a record about that search with a film and a book of poetry attached, which is more artistic ambition than most of her peers show in a career. Individual songs justify the project. Sativa is the hit, Never Call Me is a cold and exact kiss off, and Sing to Me, a duet with her daughter, is genuinely moving without tipping into sentiment.

But ninety minutes at one tempo and one volume is a formal miscalculation. The album asks you to feel numb along with her, and it succeeds so completely that by track fifteen you have stopped registering anything at all. Grief records can be immersive without being exhausting; this one does not find the difference. There is a devastating fifty minute album in here that would have hurt far more, and the decision to release everything instead is the reason it is so rarely played end to end.