I’ve had a lot of time to reflect, my friends. Mainly because gas prices have reached unprecedented levels and outside is a different kind of expensive. With all this newfound time I got the chance to get deep dive into the Apple Music algorithms and fish out only the best waves for you. With that being said this week I spent time with the ‘I Was Lost’ EP by Connecticut’s own Willie Manic.

‘I Was Lost’ finds itself somewhere in-between Alternative R&B, and the mumble rap genre. The heavily autotune assisted, mellow, optimistic yet triumphant ‘Lookwhereweare!’ Intro provides a great look at the journey he’s about to send the listener on. It plays like a 2 am ride in a 17’ Honda on your way to a view that overlooks the city. It’s a not too long not too short greeting before we’re chauffeured into track two.

This is where I think Willie finds what could be his most successful sound. ‘Curtain?’ Ft Ahmoo finds Willie discussing a toxic relationship on the brink of a curtain call and the perkys aren’t helping. “She said she like perkys I got one in my pocket, I hope she doesn’t hurt me my heart is in her locket” opens up the catchy chorus that almost sounds like something you might hear 50 times while scrolling Tik Tok. That's not a knock at all either as I found myself repeating it hours after I stopped listening. It's Willie’s best vocal performance on the EP and Ahmoo provides a standout verse full of dopamine to soothe the endorphins. 

Sidenote: Perk life gotta be crazy… I can’t take pills so I’ll never know but I just feel like you probably wake up smelling like the club at 2 am and regret.

I’ll be honest here ‘Even It Out’ is where the vehicle on this late-night drive goes off-road a bit. Still a decent effort but coming off of what ‘Curtain?’ establishes the sound just seems a bit misplaced here. The ironic thing though is that the lyrics mesh as a perfect follow-up to the previous song. Would’ve rather heard it at the end and maybe it would stick a bit more for me but at this point it just kind of gets in the way. 

I say that to say ‘Dirt<‘ puts us right back on fucking track. This almost trap-style ballad has an intrinsic beat and sound that I need to hear with a bottle of Jack Daniels Honey in hand while surrounded by misfits and people I love and tolerate. It's probably my favorite song on the project and that’s kind of because it sounds like this was recorded in one alcohol-laced take. There’s a perfect amount of emotion that seeps through the vocals here. I hope there’s more of this on the horizon.

The EP wraps up with ‘Tonight+’ ft Chosen and ‘Trust’. Solid melodic echoes drowned in autotune and euphoric instrumentation. Good choices to finish the late-night opioid laced drive that is ‘I Was Lost’. Although I wouldn’t have labeled this as R&B/Soul and think it would fit better placed in the Alternative R&B genre it's a solid project from Willie Manic. 

With all that being said I am out of here, my friends. I’m not going outside though, gas is at 80s cocaine prices and it cost $50 to step off your porch. Be safe and go stream ‘I Was Lost’ from the comfort of your home.