Mystery and illusion linger around a smoke-filled room. With sultry red curtains as the backdrop, a voice can be heard in the distance. It’s clear that these aggressive whispers, precious quips, and alert orchestrations are coming from behind the red satin beast. The curtains begin to unfold, so it’s best you ready that cigarette and pour that tall glass of wine – because the new cherimondis J album is here.

The above scene –albeit a fictional one – is one that came to mind immediately upon pressing play on Dove Archer. The album is an intimate, powerful, and prideful mosaic brought to you by angelic musician Cherimondis J. 

The ambitious goal of Dove Archer is that it aims to be timeless. Even though the LP clearly takes some cues from ’60s and ‘70s soul music, I believe that Cherimondis did a tremendous job in putting one foot in the present and the other in the future. Dove Archer is a love story we so desperately need in this moment. 

A great example of this forward-thinking love song approach is the track “Spaceship Of Love.” Right away, the song sounds as if it’s going to swiftly beam you up to another dimension. Good sign. But don’t worry – the voice of cherimondis will surely get us there. The gleaming keys and heart-racing bass dance for the first minute before we hear the airy, commanding vocals that – if you close your eyes – sound like they’re being broadcast from a UFO. 

Mentioning “Spaceship Of Love” without bringing up its hard breakdown would be a sin. At the 3:30 mark, cherimondis stops singing and starts speaking in a supreme matter, saying, “I’ve never done this before/I’ve never felt this way with someone/Do you trust me?” It’s impossible to get bored while listening to Dove Archer.

When it comes to taking a look at Dove Archer in its entirety, steady drumming, plucky strings, and gleaming synths are constantly dancing and weaving throughout the album’s seven tracks. Infectious (“Oxytocin”), alluring (“Rush”), mysterious (“Milk And Honey”), and damning (“Gahddamn”) are just a few of the different moods you’ll experience while listening to Dove Archer. The above elements are always present, though, adhering the album together into a wonderland of vintage music.

Whenever I listen to cherimondis, I derive so much wisdom and wonder due to the array of mature emotions I examine. I walk away with questions answered, yet new ones also appear. Take “Oxytocin” for example. It’s a love song, yet one soaked with seductive paranoia that makes you question the words of cherimondis. The opening line, “Your hair is like poetry/Crafted form the finest ink/Written on the softest piece of paper,” makes your skin crawl, while at the same time lead you to believe that this isn’t a love story gone sour. This makes for quite beautiful juxtaposition, both lyrically and musically.

Over the past two releases, what I’ve observed in Cherimondis is an artist who is obsessed with evolving. The music currently gleans from the ‘60s and ‘70s, but it hasn’t always been that way. And it won’t stay that way. Cherimondis says it best on the intro track, “Cuz life/Ain’t in no rush for me.”

The curtain is open on Cherimondis, and so far I’ve only observed an artist who is genuinely in command of their sound and focused on perfecting it.

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