There are a lot of traits about DC area transcendentalist duo, April + Vista reminiscent of a lot of other music. But, when it’s all said and done, there has never been anyone making it quite like them. With an auditory aesthetic seemingly unbound by anything but their own ability, and accompanying ability that keeps them pretty much unbound altogether, their new project, You Are Here feels more reminiscent of emotion and weather than it does any prior musical undertaking. 

 

It’s good for rainy mornings on the porch with a cup of tea.

 

It’s good for a contemplative walk in the sunshine.

 

It’s good for the soul.

 

Some might describe their sound as eclectic, but what April + Vista have is far too congruent to be so. Instead, their sound, particularly what’s on display in You Are Here, is transcendentally adept and territorially unmotivated. It exists wherever it needs to, and from that broad-ranging foundation come those confused about how to label them, when really that’s the point.

 

Flowing organically between the houses of soul, R&B, jazz, electronic, hip-hop, folk, acoustic, indie, You Are Here is a bold representation and reflection of the music that has motivated April + Vista’s own paths. It would be odd if it had culminated within the bounds of something specifically familiar. 

 

If you like music in general, it’s worth at least a few listens, and probably a permanent spot in your most daily of playlists. 

 

Subtle adjustments in production sometimes whittling between tracks and sometimes within drive a sense of familiarity into the project. But in short time, that familiarity reveals itself not of the sonic kind, but instead of our own shuffling mental and emotional states. Its sonic texture ebbs and flows, motivated equally by the genius of Vista’s composition and the mastery of April’s many instrumental and vocal approaches. And yet, through all of its stylistic weaving and transitionary pulsating, You Are Here lives up to its title.

 

It unfolds in such an inescapable manner that traps both the listener’s attention and the entirety of their inhibition to exist anywhere else, like a cleanse for our most dangerous of mental constipations. 

 

It boasts the peaceful nature of soul, acoustic, and indie undertakings, flashes of the rawness and sex of R&B, and irreplaceable moments of grassroots, unapologetic hip-hop. Tethered together with the strength and musically superior skillset that April + Vista bring to the table, You Are Here is both a timely emotional palette cleanser, and an introduction to the importance of the post-genre era of music.