Bonjay - “Lush Life”
This is a great dance record! This is the follow up from their debut EP 8 years ago. Tightly arranged dance tracks - dancehall influenced - that have spacey vibes and aesthetic sprinkled in which make this a textured and fun dance record to listen to. There are also a good number of slower songs that are vibey and fun to listen to even though they aren’t as upbeat and dancey. Definitely consider playing this!

Favorites: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9

1. “Ingenue” - 3:03 - Uptempo dancey song with sort of intense vibe. Very nice. catchy hook and nice spaced out beat; horn sounding bass line; last 30 seconds the beat breaks down into a half-time boom bap rhythm and then brings the quicker stuff back. Very nice.
2. “Medicine for Melancholy” - 3:33 - Throbbing synth bass over what sounds like a reggateon (it’s probably a dancehall riddim but I’m ignorant) beat; Vocals sound great. Cool breakdown at 2:18 keeps the vibe dancey but adds cool texture to the vibe.
3. “How come” - 3:19 - slower vibe with lots of claps and deep tom drum keeps the dance vibe right there. Spacey sprinkles of high hats panned hard left. Open vibe because it’s mostly toms and claps and hats until about 1:15 where a synth sound adds subtle texture.
4. “Chelsea” - 4:15 - very dancey synth bass line and lots of claps and atmospheric synths; intense vibe; slows down and gets intense with some organ sounding synths 3min in. Slows down at the end and gets intense.
5. “Brick & High Beam” - 3:40 - Opens up with a cappella vocals looped and more vocals on top. Very soothing. Drums come in in an intense way; vibe here is still dancey but very different than the other tracks. More space. Dancehall riddim comes in around 1:40 and gives it a vibe similar to the other tracks. Interesting breakdowns on this one. I like it a lot. Ends intensely and suddenly. Really dig this one.
6. “Post-Urban” - 3:41 - starts off spaced out with the drums and atmospheric stuff. Vocals come in and so does a slower/mid tempo bass driven groove. Lots of parts with just bass and vocals. Nice. Less dancey than other tracks but still really nice.
7. “Devil’s Night” (feat. Thom Gill) - 4:54 - starts off with vocals and sparse drums; bass pulses in at about 1min in. Guest vocalist. Intense vibes and slower tempo and not as dancey. Very nice vocals all around. Nice saxophone comes in at the end. Great vibe.
8. “Emoticon Panopticon” - 3:57 - very slow and spaced out snare reverberates behind nice bassline while vocals float on top; atmospheric synths. Not dancey but meditative and soothing vibe. Intense organ sounding synths come in right around 3min and punctuate the meditative vibe.
9. “Night Bus Blue” - 7:19 - vocals don’t come in as quick on this. pulsating synth and vocal samples start it off and then at 1:24 a sort of deconstructed dancehall riddim comes in. Vocals are spaced out and sound more like an instrument rather than lead vocalist until 1:50 when the singing starts. Mid tempo dancehall vibe that feels like it slows down and picks back up as the drums cut in and great noisey part at the end.