Home by PAUL CRUPI is a heartfelt album that hooked me from start to finish. Many other albums focus on heavy themes with more melancholic energy or emphasise joyous sounds without delving into deep themes.
Home manages to elevate and explore the more positive themes of forgiveness and gratitude. Although it has darker moments, especially the last track, its unique ability to allow depth without sacrificing the positive vibes is impressive.
The opening track, Sandcastle Waves, has this beautiful seaside ambiance that flows into a smooth guitar part. Immediately, I was shocked by CRUPI’s vocal performance. It feels like a mix of Bruno Major and Summer Salt. Again, there is a levity in his vocal performance that feels genuine.
After the opening track shows off the vocals, Remedy explores some intricate guitar playing. The track’s lead guitar part employs a motif that maintains the same pattern but changes pitch. It compliments the melody brilliantly. I also think the message about forgiveness is honest and well-executed. Having the self-awareness that the speaker still needs to work on themselves recontextualizes forgiving the other person as part of that process. It is a vulnerable perspective that I appreciate.
The Other Side plays with the idea of light and dark nicely. While initially starting with the phrase “I’m so down,” eventually, the speaker finds a corner of the world that feels safe. I like the way the intense stress or sadness fades when they begin to focus on their environment. It feels true to life that beautiful places in nature can ground you even in tough times.
The titular track, Home, again features playful harmonies that interact nicely with the guitar part, reacting to each other's influence in the melody. The rhythmic changes also feel, to me, to match the ebb and flow of a relationship.
The last track, When It Rains, also begins with ambient noise, like the opening track, Sandcastle Waves. This feels like a purposeful choice to immerse the listener in nature to bookend the album. This song is one of the darker points on the album, exploring the end of a relationship - not the note I expected the album to end on after some more uplifting tracks. That being said, the potency of those moments is explored brilliantly with the raw vocals and emphasised further with the guitar solo.
Overall, this is a project with a tonne of energy that clearly comes from the heart. The vocals are a treat throughout and its generally optimistic perspective on the future and connection with nature make it a breath of fresh air to listen to.
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