Noel Aponte is a young and upcoming artist who recently released Bittersweet. His music is lush and full of catchy melodies but also contains some experimentation. Some of the music reminded me of early James Blake to a degree in the way that there’s a down tempo soulful flavor to the music.
The EP opens with “I’ll Be Dancing” which is a fantastic song. It’s instantly infectious and one of the things I liked right off the bat was the slight shoegaze-like treatment to the synths. The vocals are well delivered and everything sounds crisp. It felt like a pretty joyful song although there is a section where the song gets pitched shifted that starts to bend in unique ways. The song is great and a very promising opener.
“Fleeting Love” is a good one as well. It’s a song that seemed to revolve on young love. The song is well crafted and the vocals melodies are memorable. Similar to the previous songs the shoegaze-like architecture works really well, giving it some edge and uncertainty.
“Serene (Interlude” is short but still felt like a full song in many ways. It’s slightly jazzy but experimental. Besides the vocals, the piano is the main attraction on this song. Last up is “I don’t see you in Dreams.” The song is the arguable highlight. I absolutely loved the vocal performance on this song. Aponte sounds heartfelt here and it’s emotionally resonant. The atmosphere is quite dreamy and works very well. There’s also a bit of nostalgia and has a bit of timeless quality.
This EP is only thirteen minutes long but it clearly showcases the many talents of Aponte, I would say this is a very solid debut and hopefully the first of many to come from the young artist. Take a listen!
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