It’s a day many never thought would come, a fantasy as impalpable as the rose-tinted past in our rear-view mirrors. Kavinsky has returned, refueled, Reborn. With this first album in nine years, Vincent’s comeback was sure to mark a historic moment for the retrowave scene. With the two first singles to drop tying in closely to Kavinsky’s past work, M.Belorgey was sure to stir up the hype to accommodate a warmly welcomed return for himself.
One thing that is for sure is that Kavinsky has definitely cozied up to the Synthwave genre and the love it has given him over the past decade. If anything, Reborn very much feels like the exact comeback album that the Retrowave scene has been wanting to hear from him for all of these years, the very album some may have built a name on by attempting to produce.
The main issue one may address about the album is that whereas past releases helped flesh out a new retro retro aesthetic, Reborn does little if anything to expand this universe further. The steady pace that is maintained throughout most of its 47 minute runtime eventually flattens out the impact of the album’s main singles and further instills the impression of a driver cruising on autopilot. Furthermore, the vocal performances more or less blend together seamlessly whilst not quite living up to the grandeur of Belorgey’s past hit singles. ‘Goodbye’ featuring Sébastien Tellier stands out in its attempt to evoke the raspy, robotic vocal effect of ‘Night Call’, but feels ultimately dwarved by its predecessor.
Ultimately, Reborn stands on firm ground as a tribute to Belorgey’s retrowave legacy, adds a couple of new cuts to your Outrun playlist but doesn’t quite hold the sense of ambition needed to stand out from its peer releases and lead the retrowave sound to new horizons.
Kavinsky Reborn is out now.
