Album Review: Golden Hour by Kygo

Despite us not being able to celebrate festival season in the traditional sense this year, we are blessed with the gift of Kygo to transport us to an imaginary island surrounded by epic palm trees and sandy ocean-side views. Following up a three-year hiatus after releasing his widely successful Kids in Love, the king of tropical house has returned in full force. With a feature rich tracklist the 18 track long, hour-long album is truly the ‘Golden Hour’ that the album claims to be. Packed with splashy piano melodies and soft, surfy drops that almost demand beachfront listening. This is Kygo proving to the world that the pioneer is his genre is still the king of Tropical house.

Here are my favorites from the album

• The Truth: with easily relatable lyrics about a partner changing over time and a splashy summer infused drop over a gorgeous piano, you know this is a Kygo album.  The vocal chopped drop and the bouncy beat makes for the perfect start to this album. 

• Lose Somebody: a progressive story of loss really guides us through a journey that everyone can connect with and resonate in. For a considerable part of the song Ryan Tedder’s vocal are vulnerable and over a light instrumental which makes his voice stand out. This is one of the more pop sounding track and gets its moment to shine on this record. 

• Feels Like Forever: you get a throwback to old kygo days with a more simplified and easy drop on this cut. A gorgeous song about the starting of a beautiful relationship, it’s a song that will get your head bobbing with a smile on your face. 

• Freedom: isn’t freedom what we’re all looking for, right now? Throughout the song, Abel sings about finding freedom in life. The production is akin to a lot of tracks from the album and has vocal chops after the chorus instead of a signature tropical Kygo melody.

• Beautiful: You can sense the Avicii inspiration on this particular cut. On the song, Sandro croons about opening himself up to a lover over a euphoric Kygo melody. “Beautiful” serves as one of the most melodic and energetic tracks on Kygo’s third LP Golden Hour and Sandro’s voice is surreal. 

• How Would I Know: The song’s style follows a much darker tone than the rest of the album. ‘How Would I know’ is about a relationship that is on the edge of falling apart, but they’re not ready yet to let go of each other. In the song, Kygo features a mixture of slow guitar riffs, his signature soft plucky drop and soothing soft vocals of the duo. 

• Higher Love: ‘Higher Love’ may be the stand out song of Kygo’s career after ‘Firestone’. Lending vocals on this track is the late Whitney Houston. Whitney couldn’t have had a better appearance in the modern dance scene than this and Kygo does full justice to her singing abilities in his signature style.

• Don’t Give Up On Love: the husky and soulful voice of Sam Tinnesz on the acoustic guitar paves way to one of the best drops on this LP. The songs just like the others is a beautiful beach banger. 

• Like It Is: the only song with a rap feature on it in the form of Tyga. This songs gives a welcome change to the feature list and Zara Larsson shines on this one. This is a full blown pop dance cut and I have enjoyed it a lot. 

• Someday: the country infused crossover came to me a surprise on this track list. Zac Brown‘s has his own strengths and a unique style which when coupled with bumping basslines and echoing melodies gives reminiscent of a beach-side rodeo – if such a thing existed.

Sure, no one could listen to this album without immediately recognising it as Kygo. The beach-ready beats, catchy vocals, and tropical house elements prevalent throughout make it so many of the songs from Golden Hour could fit in seamlessly into any other Kygo album. That is not to say that Kygo’s sound has not evolved at all and to criticize it solely over lack of experimentation is preposterous. This album is a feel good remedy to get of our daily struggles and the negativity that the world is throwing on us. ‘Golden Hour’ is for us to let our hair down, grab a drink and dance our sorrows away. I rate this album a 6.5/10. Here’s a link to the album, do check it out.