Album Review: ‘Everything Sparks Joy’ by Aiko Tomi

Aiko Tomi’s upcoming nine track record, Everything Sparks Joy, is set to release on June 20. It’s dancey, messy, back alley pop. While the vocals could be better at times, the instrumentation and feel of the overall record is great. And honestly, in the settings you’d find these tracks, vocals wouldn’t be at the forefront anyways. Five of the nine tracks have already been released as singles, leaving only four of the tracks new.

The record starts off with the album title track, which is one of the new ones. With a rising and decaying sample of higher pitched vocals, revolving synths quickly take over. Tomi’s vocals are soft and melodic, and the track builds in a slow burn to never actually drop. This track feels very Grimes inspired, specifically her 2012 album Visions. 

The second track, “Bounce,” is one of the previously released singles. This track is quick to go and carries well. It feels like 2000s chrome lettering. It’s busy, clean, smooth, and the lyrical movement flows insanely well. It is honestly a crime to not hear this song in a club for the first time. Once the backing vocals appear and take over for a moment, the song feels complete and unending, but in a way you wouldn’t want it to end. 

“Gliiitch,” the second new track, follows, and while not a full skip, isn’t far from it. The first half of the song drags a bit, but once the pretty synths come in, the song pulls itself together. 

Track three, “Blueberries,” is another previously released single. And this song hits. The oscillating synths transitioning to rising synths on the chorus feels exactly like what should happen. The vocals being chopped into the realm of them becoming a part of the instrumental before they drop into just the beat is just perfect dance music. 

“Violently Kawaii,” is contradictory and up-beat. The pretty synths and soft drum beat juxtaposed to the violent and playful lyrics works better than great. The base synths that come in before the beat drops into a softer one makes for a perfect build. The beat switched towards the end to a more hardware sound and I wish it lasted longer. 

“296,” is my least favourite off the record. It’s good, but it isn’t for me. It has the most aggressive beat off the record so far and the same can be said for the vocals. The track maintains the pattern of building to no beat, and when the beat does come in, it doesn’t feel fulfilling. I would say it is the least danceable track as well. This track is one of the new ones. 

The seventh track, “delulu demon,” is a very soft western neo-scene or hardstyle opening. Except it’s the whole song, which works great. This track has the best vocals as well — they feel natural, real, and emotional. The sped-up beat at the end of the track is really good too, I wish there was more of it if anything. 

“agenttt of chaos,” starts off with a really moving deep bass, and great instrumental. But, the lyrics here fell flat for me. The performance is great, but the flow feels like soundcloud rap and the lyrics feel like a lot of nothing. The beginning of the track overall feels somewhat like filler, even though I’m assuming it isn’t. 

The song is six minutes though, and with all that time to switch up, it thankfully does. The vocals fall out, leaving just a pretty instrumental of moving rotating synths. And when the vocals come back, they’re great. They’re softer, accompanied by horns and 80s, Alone at Prom sounding synths. The second half of the song is moving and doesn’t drag despite it being generally unchanging and a bit long. It’s a great transition into the last song. The second half of this song is, in my opinion, the best of the unreleased work on this record. 

“Some Lights Need to be Dimmed,” is all vibes. The repeating hyperpop synths moving with the vocals are solid. The vocals on this track, and the lyrics, are some of the best on the project as a whole. And the stabbing synths that lead into the beat drop in the third quarter of the song are insanely good. The busy beat then falls apart into a very hardware sounding ending. This was the perfect pick to end off the project. 

As a whole, the project is great. The instrumentals and vocals tie together to make a great dance record. The hardware aspects come in at perfect times, the up-beat moments are fulfilling. The tracks on this record should be in the club or an industrial boiler room-esc setting, and if possible, listen to them there.