NINA - Sleepwalking

(Self-release 2018)

NINA has been around for a few years, but she really hit the scene hard in 2016. Sleepwalking is her debut album, which collects some songs from her previous releases but also presents some new material. Also worth noting that Sleepwalking isn't quite synthwave. Rather, it sits on the border of synthwave and modern synthpop.



Sleepwalking is quite good in a nuts-and-bolts way. NINA's voice sounds good, and the production (by Sunglasses Kid and a few others) is high quality. A few of the songs are quite strong, like "Beyond Memory," which is probably the most synthwave-y of the bunch. "Born to Live," which is more modern synthpop than synthwave, is very catchy. The ballad "Diamonds in the Rough" has a lot of feeling to it, though the vocal processing goes overboard on reverb, which I do not like. "Your Truth" is probably the best one for me, as it really nails the retro '80s emotional vibe.

At the same time, Sleepwalking is missing something that takes it from "like" to "love." Basically, I didn't get the sense that there is any unique vision or emotional core to this one. Take "80s Girl," for example. It's pop in synth clothing, with all that entails--from the professional approach to the lack of any unifying vision outside making competent, professional quality music. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not that interesting to me.

Score: 7.5