You’re high when you listen, whether you like it or not.
Michigan-native Garrett Borns embodies all that is Southern California, with a beach-y indie sound mixed with a splash of electric-pop. His first studio album, “Dopamine,” transports the listener to another world, where everything is cool as the Pacific Blue.
BØRNS’ music can be described as breezy and melodic. The love-filled, alluring lyrics on “Dopamine” are sun-kissed with psychedelic rifts. BØRNS is high on life and love, and he wants you to feel it, too.
[sidebar title=”“Dopamine”” align=”right” background=”on” border=”right” shadow=”on”]Artist: BØRNS
Label: Interscope Records
Release Date: Oct. 16
Rating: 4/5
[/sidebar]The musician’s first studio album took less than a year to create and comes after the great success of EP release “Candy,” which included hot tracks “Past Lives” and “Fool.”
The album opener “10,000 Emerald Pools” is the perfect song to grab a blanket with your muse and head to the nearest pier.
“Down to the bottom, ten thousand emerald pools,” Borns croons. “You’re all I need to breathe / I’ll dive deeper, deeper for you.”
“Dopamine” takes an upbeat turn with Borns’ high notes in the mesmerizing ride of “Electric Love.” As the chorus comes around, the drums pick up signifying the eclipse of sound that ends with the climatic lyrics “All I need is to be struck by your electric love.” It can and will make the listener go weak at the knees.
BØRNS slows things down a bit with the heartfelt ballads “American Money” and “The Emotion” that have melancholy feels that remind us that although love can take us to the clouds it can also smack our heads on the concrete.
“I lost count so long ago / maybe my heart’s numb,” “The Emotion” begins. “Don’t hold my hands accountable / they’re young and they’re dumb.”
Hints of the ‘80s are heard throughout the album, sometimes reminding us a bit of The Smiths and early New Order, particularly on the track “Past Lives,” which holds heartfelt lyrics with a dance-y melody. The album’s standout song is the perfect combination of pop with a dash of electric soul, taking the listener back to one of the greatest decades for music.
The afterglow of the album includes the swooning title track “Dopamine” and the groovy “Overnight Sensation,” which was based off an article and an old black and white photo BØRNS found in a 1969 Playboy magazine he was reading while in the studio, according to an interview in Spin Magazine.
BØRNS describes the scene in “Overnight Sensation” of a girl posing for the centerfold spread with, “She’s glowing like the cherry on my cigarette, beaten sweater, diamonds sweating down her neck.”
As the last song “Fool” comes to an end, you’ll quickly reach for your phones and hit replay to gain back that feeling of love while lying on the hot sand with the waves crashing in the distance. With this album by your side, you’ll never have to leave the beach.