Review: Blanco White sets listener adrift on oceans of sound with ‘Tarifa’
Blanco White’s second album shoots into the universe.
“Dreams are nevermore,” Blanco White whispers through puffy clouds. “We Had a Place in That Garden” rises and falls in beautiful brushstrokes, finding the singer and songwriter heading out on a musical voyage through space and time along the Tarifa coastline. Named after a Spanish province, White’s second record bathes the listeners in sonic colors that are nothing short of replenishing. He playfully nuzzles you through his story, windswept and glossed over with plush, pastel tones and exquisitely delivered performances. There’s something transcendent about his work that leaps beyond the present and into another celestial plane altogether.
White (real name Josh Edwards) co-produced the record with Pilo Adami (Nubiyan Twist), with Bullion (Nilüfer Yanya, Hayden Thorpe) supplying additional efforts. Tarifa rumbles and shakes, as though White is enduring some sort of physical and spiritual transformation. “Tell Me That You Need Me” seems to beckon the listener through a glistening, feverish haze, whereas the titular cut washes over you, immersing you in sound waves and plucky instrumentation. “Under an Atlantic sky, I’m crossing over,” he sings on the latter. “Lucky as the thousand stars that line overhead.” It all conspires to entrance you, sucking you into White’s world that knows no creative bounds or limitations. He’s a storyteller who creates not just an album but an experience. From the ornamental double parts of “Giordano’s Dream” to the delightfully jangly “Green Eyes,” he oscillates between crunchy and smooth textures, weaving in his somber, skin-cutting lyrics with real skill.
“I won’t forget that place and the things that I saw / Bright mosaics stretching up the walls / A thousand colours all like none I’d ever known,” he observes with the brilliantly vibrant and rootsy “Don’t Go Hiding Now.” White stages a pilgrimage into the wilderness, seeking out answers to larger-than-life questions and making his own magic along the way. His voice rings resolute and clear, even as loneliness sets into his bones. He soldiers further into the darkness, and it’s only there that he may uncover the things he’s always wanted to know. But it’ll take time and restless slumber to get there.
Blanco White’s Tarifa is equal parts mournful and light. Pieced together with parts of himself, the expansive 11-track record arrests you in the best way possible. It grips you, right down to the soul, and never lets go. You may even begin to question the state of your existence, as you navigate among the many musical layers of White’s exquisite work. It’s only his second album, but the craft on display is magnificent. Don’t sleep on this one.
