sandcastles.

Bakari Lebby has been busy. Just not, necessarily, with making music.

Since the release of tantrums, the 2013 full-length the singer, songwriter and producer released under his nom de plume sandcastles., Lebby focused mostly on the stage, acting and directing in a variety of productions at Trustus and Workshop Theatre. Fortunately, this new EP is a promising, more mature return for a musician in his mid-20s, despite the disclaimer in the liner notes that these are “four flawed songs about insecurity and depression.”

flicker is split into two halves — the first featuring beats from Rich Engli$h with Lebby’s vocals layered on top, the second a pair of mostly acoustic songs that foreground lyrics and melody while still maintaining the chillwave-esque production style that unites the two sides and links back to the previous sandcastles. release. All four songs are uniformly strong. “similar” on the A-side and “lullaby” on the B-side both use simple couplets that, once repeated, layered and intertwined, musically reproduce the largely untellable experience of emotional insecurity, while “worth it” and “home” take more straightforward autobiographical approaches toward similar themes.

There’s an undeniable emo-punk earnestness here that some might find off-putting, but Lebby’s pen has sharpened over the last few years, giving flicker a less pure-diary feel than his past work. There’s also some beautiful musical ornaments — note the hint of jubilance in the synth break at the end of “similar,” right after Lebby has found some common emotional ground amid his own lament, or the tightly wound guitar figure that serves as the backdrop for “lullaby.” But more than anything, this record succeeds on the strength of Lebby’s singing and vocal production, which have never been so assured. - Free Times