Critic's evaluation
It was birthed in the solitude of a bucolic Swedish studio back in 2020. Four years later, the album that would literally kick-start the musical career of self-proclaimed Swedish artist Limandi was named Fuck. It and is sold as a celebration of the artist's vulnerability and authenticity.
Its beginning is filled with an undulating torpor uttered by electronic sonars. Unreasonably nauseating and seasick, the song has a soft hypnotic touch that imitates embryonic melismas performed by an organic voice. With a bed of high-pitched, slightly sweet tinkles, the song matures with a delicate sensuality from a rhythmic theme that gently blends rap and subtle notions of R&B. Then a high-pitched, dulcet voice enters the scene, completing the melodic scope. It's Limandi introducing a vocal with a rap cadence whose interpretation incites and provokes the listener into a reflective state, almost an unconscious and lethargic monologue that provokes thoughts about life. One Day I'll Be Proud presents itself as an interpersonal empowerment song, a motivational and autobiographical track that highlights a character wrapped up in persistence, perseverance, self-confidence and, above all, self-control in her emotions so as not to lose focus of her goals. This is why the protagonist mentally realizes that one day she will be proud of the moments of overcoming and trials that life has given her, because they are what have made her stronger and more resilient.
A sweet, hypnotic sense of torpor plunges the listener into a floating environment, mute and deaf. It's almost as if you were floating in the position of an omnipresent character from the cosmos itself. Breaking this hollow silence, Limandi comes up with a sweet lyrical interpretation that is even more delicate than that of the previous song. With whispery and slightly low rasps, the lyrical interpretation taken on for this new chapter makes the Swedish singer's timbre similar to that of Billie Eilish. With overlapping vocals that make the atmosphere more poignant and sentimental, the title track is filled with a chorus of vocal and undulating lyricism that incites a kind of baroque and romantic torpor. Unsurprisingly, the song features a character who becomes aware of her actions while still in a relationship. Oozing with guilt for belatedly realizing that these actions were responsible for weakening the emotional synchronicity between her and her partner, the title track is meant to sound like a plea for forgiveness, albeit with inconsequential and indifferent impulses that hide guilt and remorse.
Its beginning is dense and leaves the listener already in a defensive and attentive posture. In this regard, it's interesting how the synthetic and acidic sonars imitate, even if inappropriately, the serious and melancholic riffs of a saddened ultra-romantic guitar. Taking on an ardently sweet tone, Limandi is accompanied by a fanatical, repetitive and undulating vocal base that inserts the rap aspect into the song's melody. Adorned with delicate, unreasonably sensual tinkles that, in the midst of an electronic aesthetic, move between house music and rap, a genre that is presented here with an aesthetic familiar to that adopted by Bebe Rexha in her respective songs, How Fucking Hard is a song with a contagiously melancholic vein. A melancholy that involves a lack of self-knowledge in relation to one's own emotions or the simple denial of them. It's a lack that gets in the way of her relationships, but at the same time helps her to realize her weaknesses and emotional dependencies, as well as her low self-esteem in making her own essence prevail and making others accept her as she is.
A sharp, tinkling sonar comes in, imitating a xylophone. Under a boomy groove bass in the melodic base, Limandi appears in the company of the reproduction of sounds from various percussive elements that gradually build up the rhythmic atmosphere of the song. With its unreasonable sensuality and overlapping vocals that sound like the songs of fairies who have mastered the art of hypnotism due to their sweet voices, Put The Blame On Me presents the character as a victim of judgment and unrequited responsibility. It is here that her partner places the blame on her for actions taken when they were still together as a couple. The most important thing, however, is the protagonist's realization, albeit belated, that her fragility has made her believe the untruths told only with the intention of directing the other person's blame at herself.
Presenting herself with a high, clean tone that indirectly communicates a similarity to the tone of voice in Tones And I, Limandi takes on a suffering, pained and almost pleading posture. With a visceral interpretation and without any kind of technological treatment, the singer turns the song into a sweet but dramatic product under an organic melodic base containing the low notes of a gently affectionate guitar. Hopin' You'll Be Fine is, therefore, a song in which the protagonist expresses a necessary concern for her ex-partner because, after the break-up, he has plunged into a dark and leeching universe. Even so, he is graced by a sincere and honest desire to be rescued from his own demons motivated by his dense emotional fragilities.
Under a structure built between voice and piano, Limandi maintains the latent dramatic energy of Hopin' You'll Be Fine. With its sentimental melody and visceral interpretation, Family manages to give the listener an overly nostalgic feeling and transport them to that more meaningful place in their memories of a pre-pubescent past. An uncompromising and light-hearted past. Curiously, Family is a song in which Limandi explores a family whose driving force has been torn apart by insecurity and a lack of self-confidence. A lack that destroyed the essence of an individual, but which was rebuilt not only by recognizing the effort to restructure his emotional base, but also by love and compassion. Laughter, here, was proof that there is still feeling inside a heart damaged by a lack of understanding.
A squeak is heard in the background, including lo-fi in the melodic recipe. With its fast-paced and generously tremulous lyrical interpretation, Where You're Heading To is a short epilogue that exhorts uncertainty about an individual thirsting for freedom. An unbridled freedom that, while favoring individuality, also encourages the occasional self-destructive impulse.
As debut material, the least that can be said is that Fuck. It is the result of courage. Limandi's courage to open up in the way he did. To expose her strengths, but also her weaknesses. To talk about the sufferings of the heart, but also to know how to motivate the vigor needed to endure emotional pain.
From the title, the EP may even communicate indifference and, in a way, actually exhort this behavior. However, even though it tries to hide it, the extended play lets the tears that help the character find the balance of her emotional faculties escape through occasional emotional outbursts of anger, guilt and sadness.
It's not unresolved love, a painful goodbye or the realization of her own shortcomings that will take the protagonist off the path towards spiritual and individual evolution. After all, these are steps that life offers to make the individual more resilient, stronger and more balanced.
As a one-man show, Fuck. It not only has production, but also mixing and cover art by Limandi. She managed to make the EP sound melodically mature in its aesthetic experimentation, even mixing elements that are not common to each other. Even so, it's a great merit for the Swede to stimulate a dialog between pop, indie, R&B, rap and lo-fi.
Rounding off the technical scope is the cover art. With a purposeful blur and governed by different reddish tones offering an allusion to love, it features Limandi in the spotlight trying to impress an imposing and indifferent touch to her posture. These details underline the protagonist's inherent desire to seek her own emotional self-knowledge.
Released on 01/15/2023 in an independent way, Fuck. It is an EP about courage. It's about self-knowledge and facing the pains of the heart. It's an EP that, under the guise of indifference, exudes sensitivity through an autobiographical storyline that highlights an individual's weaknesses and willingness to follow the path to maturity.
