Written by Maria Arroyo
Producer Billy Lemos shares his debut album, Wonder, out now via AWAL. Lemos is a Chicago-based producer who thrives in his interactions with other artists and collaborating with them to bring his songs to life. Describing his music as “globe-spanning pop music,” Lemos continues in his passion to keep the pop framework of music alive.
“Wonder is the result of over two years of constant curation and production towards one cohesive project,” Lemos explains. “I wanted to create something that had zero filler; a collection of songs that densely packed ideas spanning multiple genres and styles,” Lemos shares. “This album would be nothing without the contributions of every artist involved.”
Lemos opens the album with “Always” (featuring Monsune). This song is a killer start to the album. It sets a nice pace for the rest of the songs to follow. There’s hints of R&B inspiration, with a smoother feel to it.
His next track titled “Are You There” (featuring Lava La Rue and Danny Dwyer) takes me back to some oldies that my dad used to play when I was growing up. I love the pickup with the high intensity rap section. The sections all flow well together, it’s catchy, and the rhythmic drive behind it all is steady and strong.
The next track, “Miles Away” (featuring LOWERLIPDRIP) is straight and to the point, but the message is clear and concise. The overall presentation of the song is done very well, and his love of different sound effects and levels within a song are very apparent.
Keeping with that same direction is his next song and first single, “Midlife Crisis” (featuring Tati). The consistency in how the song is executed is smooth, but something the inner working of the songs felt too abrupt. It comes off as choppy at times, and almost like there is something missing in the mix, but again, he continues to stay consistent to his sound and style which I admire.
We come back to some soothing R&B vibes with “For Me” (featuring Jonah Mutono) just in time to pick it right back up with the next track titled “Different World” (featuring Denny Dwyer). The lyrical story is very linear and to the point, and the rhythm section works overtime to keep up with the intensity of the rest of the song. “Wonder” (featuring MTMBO and Still Woozy) introduces a lot more color to the track, which mixes the different sections of the song a lot better.
Closing out his debut album is “ATM.” I was waiting for a song without a collaboration; not that I don’t appreciate them, but I wanted to hear something by himself. I think, sonically, it shows the amount of work he puts into his music, and also shows that he’s able to create a beginning, middle, and end to a story even in such a short amount of time. The song was different enough to stand out amongst the others as the closer of the album, but stayed true to his roots.
Like Billy Lemos shares, his intent with Wonder was to create straight and to the point songs without all the fluff and filler that makes up a lot of other songs. With that being said, it makes the structure of the album make more sense, and allows the listeners to gear up to jump right into each track. Each song is unique to the artist, but they are still able to have something in common, a.k.a. Lemos. The songs are different enough for some variation, but not too far off to feel out of place with the other tracks. Wonder packs a whole lot into a short amount of time, and really defines Lemos not only as a producer, but as an artist as well.
Connect with Billy Lemos
Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music
