CAGE SCRIPT - k%3Fd

Producer k?d's debut album is... uhhh... definitely a debut album.

k?d is an artist who tends to bend genre boundaries, and whilst a lot of "CAGE SCRIPT" is rooted in future bass and similar melodic styles, the project is no different. "CAGE SCRIPT" is an album that is experimental in its production and existential in its themes. Or, at the very least, an album that makes a feeble attempt at being experimental. Whilst there are some neat ideas here and there — the intensity of "BACK AGAIN", or the Japanese vocal of RANASOL on "IN YOUR EYES「瞳の中で」" — the album struggles to be engaging. The potential is all there, but k?d delivers on very little of it, instead opting for quite a bland tracklist that gets blander as the project progresses. Alright, I'll admit that the opener "RETURN TO NOTHINGNESS" is a very strong, explosive start, and the following tracks are great too, infused with lovely vocal performances and infectious vocal-chop-based melodies, but after that, "CAGE SCRIPT" completely runs out of steam. With the singing-oriented future bass production seemingly exhausted, k?d turns to an instrumental set of tracks that comprise the second movement of the record, and this is where "CAGE SCRIPT" starts to become monotonous. Many of the instrumental tracks feel like the same idea on loop, particularly towards the latter portion of the second half, and the 12-song tracklist begins to blend together in a series of tiresome, repetitive ideas. But there is some respite — thank goodness for that — in the existential themeing of the album. Many of the tracks are populated with vocal samples that, although seem random on paper, pose existential questions that work surprisingly well with the production motifs, a quality that gives a sizeable amount of life to an otherwise fatigued record. When paired with k?d's melodic production — which is, honestly, pretty good, especially in the first half of the album — "CAGE SCRIPT" still has something impactful to say above the drone of repetitiveness it exhibits.

That 'something to say' was surprisingly enough to push it a fair bit of the way into the 60/100 range for me. "CAGE SCRIPT" isn't badly produced by any means, nor does it lack potential, it just lacks the drive to execute those ideas. Whilst it is tedious and lacks memorability outside the opening few, it's not terrible, and I could honestly see myself enjoying this if some of the later tracks were expanded upon.