REVIEW: RM - INDIGO

4/5

Monster's Ball.

Proof of BTS' hiatus between mandatory military service and BLACKPINK's worldwide domination may be greatly exaggerated. At least, speaking solo like Han, that is. We already had new hope with J-Hope's 'Jack In The Box' album opening Pandora's like a 'Chicken Noodle Soup' ("with a soda on the side") a mere month after their Ross and Rachel announcement. And only last week Jung Kook cooked up an amazing anthem for all you 'Dreamers' to kick off the World Cup. They won't just let it BE (good). And now, in we go with 'Indigo'. The undisputed leader of South Korea's prime pop act, RM (AKA, Rap Monster (AKA, Real Me) back with a new album, live from the United Nations. As the elder statesmen and worldwide spokesman of the group gives us his first personal playlist since the '.mono' of 'Seoul' and 'Tokyo' fell on our ears like 'Forever Rain'. 

Japan's MUJI would be proud of the album artwork aesthetic. 'Harry's House' and Stormzy too ('This Is What I Mean'). But how about the hip-hop heads? Baduizm on the first track? Now that's a flex. Don't hate. RM is as much a real rapper as Badu is a constant collaborator with the most creative. 'Yun' is an instant classic to set off the vinyl vintage of a body of work that just flows like being water. "F### the trendsetter" RM proclaims after a Yun Hyong Keun sample intro in tribute tells us, "According to Plato's humanity. It's the human essence to seek truth, goodness, and beauty. It's the sincerity in truth, the moral goodness, and the beauty. But in my opinion, you have it all when you have the truth." And here it is. "I'ma turn back the time/Back the time, far to when I was nine/When things were only good or bad/I think I was more of a human/A finger pointing from here to a mountain/Saying it's the place I need to go now/That's where you belong," Kim Nam-joon tells us as Erykah evokes even more. "You keep the silence/'Fore you do somethin'/You be a human/'Til the death of you." Haunting this young life as we knew it. 

Anderson .Paak on the second track?! Already it's like that for a man who was recently 'Musicians On Musicians' teasing a collaboration with Neptune N.E.R.D. Pharrell on a Rolling Stone cover, Silk Sonic. Smooth as it goes, forget 'Still Life'. This is art living its best beat life. More Big Hit's for your HYBE hybrid hype. "I'm still life (Yeah, ooh-ooh, you're still life, baby)/Y'all can't lock me in the frame, I'm movin', yeah (You're still life)/I'm still life (Ha, ooh-ooh, go ahead, go and live it up, yeah)/Life is better than the death, I'll prove it, yeah (Let's get it now)", Anderson sings on the chorus, as the Rap Monster calls him Paak like Shakur. Adding, "난 still life, but I'm movin'/Just live now, goin' forward, yeah/멈추지 않는 정물, huh/또 피워 나의 꽃을/Gimme no name 'cause I'm untitled/계속 전시되는 내 삶 (Huh, yeah)/그래도 삶 아직도 삶 (What? Mm)", for the record with one of the game’s best, from the fourth of July 'Fire On The Sky' of Marvel's 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' to drumming on Superbowl Sunday for the good Dr. Dre and all his friends. 

Honne honed a nice 'Crying Over You' remix with RM back in 2018 and there's more monster collabos here. Korean-Canadian Tablo is here 'All Day' for the tableau and the 'Romance' of Korean folk singer Kim Sa-wol duets beautifully on 'Forg_tful', no need for the E like Sheila and this young Prince. Paolo Blanco and British-Jamaican singer Mahalia get 'Closer', before things get 'Hectic' with Olympic Park, Grand Mint Festival favourite Colde. Fresher still is the air of the 'No. 2' closer with 'Dinosaur Teacher' Park Ji-yoon. But for all this legendary Korean talent it's the 'Wild Flower' lead single and vivid video with Youjeen that really blooms with beats, rhymes and life. 

"Flower field, that's where I'm at/Open land, that's where I'm at/No name, that's what I have/No shame, I'm on my grave/When your feet don't touch the ground/When your own heart underestimates you/When your dreams devour you/When you feel you’re not yourself/All those times", Real Me emotes and devotes on an album that for all the warmly welcome guest spots is truly at its most powerful when it gets personal. And 'Lonely', musing, "In a moment of eternity/It's neatly packed here/I hate this hotel room/I'm floating alone/This loud horn/As wide as the narrowed room/I'm trapped in myself." Always able to cut to the core of what means more in a modern malaise dulled by depression, but spoken up for and told to love yourself like an anthem. Even so in solo it seems it has been time for a 'Change' like Part 2 as Monster raps on the sequel, "I can't believe I loved you once/Fool me once, then fool me twice (getting his George W. Bush on)/Shame on you, yeah, shame on me (and Stevie Wonder)/Think I lost my sanity/Chemistry we had for sure/Gradually we wanted more/Thеy say you can't fix someone/Seems you got one fit you right." This top ten album and one of the best and most anticipated of the calendar is the album we've been waiting for ever since he gave us 'Mono'. BTS may be taking a collective break, but individuals like RM are here to stay. The book and postcard version of this 30 something minute album saying so long to Kim's 20s and mapping the persona of his Seoul soul to come. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Yun (Feat. Erykah Badu)', 'Still Life (Feat. Anderson .Paak)', 'Lonely'.