Album Review: Ryan Hemsworth - Guilt Trips

Ryan Hemsworth
Guilt Trips
Rating: Grrrr

Mostly known for his forays into downtempo R&B and cloud-rap territory, Canadian DJ and producer Ryan Hemsworth releases his album Guilt Trips, which surprisingly hits on multiple styles and genres, yet feels cohesive and retains Hemsworth's personality and charm. In this age of being exposed to and able to listen to so many different types of music it is remarkable to me that anyone's records these days don't have a schizophrenic quality to them. But this plethora of music makes it so that many producers are always challenged and inspired by what they hear, and in more gifted hands are able to pull from and edit things down to their own ends. Guilt Trips borrows the best parts of chillwave, trap, Dirty South beats, future R&B, cloud rap, and many other styles and makes for a fascinating listen.

Guilt Trips is very much built and structured for headphones and late night listens and not the dance floor, aligning itself more with indie electronica, feeling like a drive through dark and cold streets, the neon and glitter of the city washing over you as you head to your final destination. Beginning with the soft thump of "Small + Lost," featuring the gorgeous vocals of Sinead Harnett over snippets of vocal samples, Guilt Trips eases itself gracefully onto its sumptuous path.



Throughout the record, Hemsworth expertly switches back and forth between vocal led tracks and instrumentals. From the Frou Frou sampling "One For Me," which pairs R&B singer Tinashe's breathy vocals over fresh R&B beats, sounding like one of Brandy's trademarked ballads;



indietronic collaboration with Baths "Still Cold" which pairs Will Wiesenfeld's left-field croon with sparkly Postal Service-esque keyboards, intoning strange lyrics like "it’s almost funny that you’re still so cold / what are you, Taylor Swift?;” while on closing track "Day/Night/Sleep System," Hemsworth pairs the guttural raps of Haleek Maul with the mumble raps of Kitty, looking back towards his cloud rap roots.



But the main focus on this record are Hemsworth's pristine and multi-layered productions. "Weird Life" starts out as cotton candy 80s pop music before erupting into a glossy trap inspired mix of bright synth washes and belltone melodies;



"Ryan Must Be Destroyed" builds from a lonely, inward looking track into a maximalist tour de force of skittering rhythms and meaty synths;



while "Happiness & Deams Forever" showcases Hemsworth's furious drum programming and sense of scale and drama, drawn into balance with the almost creepy vocal sample saying "please don't trust me."

Guilt Trips is a very brisk listen but one that rewards multiple listens. At first, it breezed by pleasantly without really making a lasting impression with me. Over the course of several different listens it began to take shape, making its presence known. While Ryan is still trying to find his ultimate voice, Guilt Trips makes the case that he might be doing fine with what he is doing right now.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.