Legendary lofi-hip-hop heavyweight Rook1e returns to the ring with fellow contemporary Softy on their latest collaborative effort, Portrait in Love.
Rook1e’s rise to fame during the underground era of lofi-hip-hop is now synonymous with nostalgia for many listeners. Masterfully crafting lofi beats that emulate Makoto Shinkai levels of awe and wonder, it’s no contest as to how successful he’s become. The soundscaping abilities of both producer’s combined efforts are no exception to the rule on this project.
Portrait in Love starts off with “garden of roses”, a blissfully sweet track that surprisingly sheds the traditional lofi instrumentation for mostly organically played sounds. The combination of the shakily played ukulele and melodica conjure a plethora of emotions, transporting the listener from whatever drab environment they currently inhabit to the world that Rook1e and softy have so meticulously put together. Reminiscent of washed out photographs, old Nintendo game soundtracks, and yearning for something pure, garden of roses is the perfect start to a lush and gorgeous record.
Each track on the record feels as though it’s a chapter in a book, whose title is reinforced sonically by the warm and enticing chord changes, melodies, and timbre of each instrument. “summer’s end” is another cut that stands out, beginning with a wistfully played piano, this track almost seems as though it’s a theme that would play during a ballroom dance scene. Once fully backed by the complete instrumentation, it is almost as though the track is inviting the listener to daydream and create one’s own little world with each passing bar. “memories of her, last winter” shares the same ethos as the aforementioned track. Keying into the same themes of yearning, missing loved one’s and feeling hopeful, it’s almost unfair as to how well the music on this record can generate emotions. At times it can be hard to fight back tears whilst meandering through the sonic space.
Unbridledly powerful and emotionally intelligent, the ups and downs of the record excellently portray the honest feelings found in a relationship, holding back nothing and displaying so much through instrumental music alone. Portrait in Love ends it’s journey on a happy note, with “the half-life of love is forever”. Beginning with a chord progression near reminiscent of Korean r&b, the track plays out into a deceptively simple instrumental palette, with delicately placed percussive elements dancing around each note, almost feeling as though they are raindrops bouncing to and from location to location. Followed up by a beautifully composed string and piano accompaniment, the track crescendos into a swell of beauty that can only be achieved by the most masterful of musicians. And just like that, the album ends, leaving the listener with the same feeling of an abrupt hang-up with a loved one after a long call.
Lofi-hip-hop in it’s current iteration is consistently paired with anime-style visuals, as both mediums emulate the same emotions of wonder and awe better than any other art form. However, it can be argued that “Portrait in Love” takes the cake by far on it’s ability to sonically transport the listener to share the same sentiments. “Portrait in Love” is a masterclass in lofi-hip-hop, building on the pre-established meta and laying the groundwork for a more conscious and encapsulating level of music.
Questions for Rook1e:
1. Being a collaborative effort, were there any roadblocks in the creative process for this record, or was it mostly a cohesive experience? What were the main drawbacks of working with softy, as opposed to composing works alone?
It might just be me, but sometimes collaborations with other artists can involve a lot of back-and-forth and time waiting around, often falling through and becoming forgotten. I’m also very selective with chords and melodies; a lot of things that get sent to me I have trouble adding on to or I just don’t vibe with even after many listens.
I think softy was the exception. He is incredibly talented and efficient, and he has to be one of my favorite (if not, my favorite) lofi producers at the moment.
Though there are two tracks that got scrapped and will probably not see the light of day; I’m not sure if there were any drawbacks. For this album, I would say half of the keys played were from me, and half of the keys were from softy; I think listeners can easily distinguish who is who. I’m still working on my compositional skills, and if I was working on this album alone it may have taken twice as long! I’m not very comfortable with any other instruments besides piano so it was wonderful to have other elements added (thanks for the guitar, softy).
2. What were your main inspirations going into this record, musically or otherwise?
For this album, there were many inspirations that I tried to show musically and through creating the album’s concept with artwork and titles.
To start off, there is the album artwork I commissioned which was my own interpretation from the La La Land landscape in the iconic “A Lovely Night” scene. I’ve said this plenty before but La La Land continues to be my favorite movie that I revisit from time to time. The soundtrack of “Mia and Sebastian’s Theme” and “Planetarium” are some of my biggest musical inspirations. When pieces like that are able to tug at your heartstrings, letting you experience and feel wistfulness, happiness, and loss – the composer is doing something right. Softy and I tried to recapture and kindle that feeling in “you and I, in a planetarium.”
Like the concept of seasons in La La Land, there are “two parts” to this album – summer and winter. The first seven tracks are Summer – warm, dreamy, and lively— as if you have your head in the clouds. However, the tempo and mood slowly transition after track six into Winter with songs like, “trouble in paradise,” “memories of her, last winter,” and “I’ve been missing you” to represent a more difficult time in one’s life.
The second inspiration I wanted to show was from one of my favorite jazz pianists, Bill Evans. The album title, “Portrait in Love” was my small twist on one of my most-listened-to LPs of all time, “Portrait in Jazz.” Track 14 was my homage to him with my own playing of “like someone in love.”
The third thing that really tied together this album was me spending a lot of time watching Korean dramas or simply listening to their OSTs. I will literally sometimes just look up random OSTs for melody or chord ideas. They just have a way of coming up with progressions and diminished chords that sounds beautiful to the ear. The small melodical interlude and chord switch up in track 10, “distant shores” was inspired by the original soundtrack from the show “Crash Landing on You.”
Track 12, “I’ve been missing you” is simply a lofi take on Jhene’s Aiko’s 10k Hours since that song was heavily on repeat while I first began working on this album. There is also a little inspiration from Hisashi’s “One Summer’s Day” melody in track five, “shooting star,” leading to track six, “summer’s end” which is purely coincidental because I didn’t even realize it until later.
The last track is titled, “the half-life of love is forever” because when you really love someone you don’t stop loving them it just takes on a different form. I wanted to end off on a somewhat hopeful note.
3. Do you feel as though Portrait in Love can be used as a cornerstone to mark a new era of your musical progression?
Absolutely. Though I am nowhere near where I want to be, I remember struggling so much just last year trying to figure out chord progressions and having no idea where to start. Though it may take me several minutes, I can figure out mostly everything by ear and go from there. I think every musician gets creative block from coming up with melodies, and I’m still defining my style when it comes to melodies, but in the future I’d like to continue making songs like “falling asleep together while it rains,” and “we’ll meet again.”
4. At many points in this record, it felt as though the music could’ve been a soundtrack to a film or an anime. Given your level of compositional expertise, would you one day consider going beyond the barrier of lofi-hip-hop?
I had never really written or composed my own song on paper before until my music theory class earlier this spring. I have doubts about the song and my skills, but someone in the class said it sounded like something that could be in a Pixar movie which is one of the nicest things anyone has said. I don’t think I could ever score films for a living because my brain only lets me release music once a year, but if given the opportunity it could present a rewarding challenge. I’d also love to produce for more vocalists and I think that may be a focus for me moving forward.
5. How would you rank Portrait in Love in your discography?
My favorite album I’ve ever made hands down. And it would not be possible without the lovely softy.
6. Which track off your record is your favorite and why? Does your favoritism towards this track devalue others that you’ve created?
Shooting Star is my favorite track on the album. For this track I played the keys, harp, and drums and sent it over to softy not expecting as much as I ended up getting. I remember the very first time he sent back the master file and I was absolutely in awe about how delicate and graceful the strings he added were that I walked around the house with my phone speakers right next to my ear playing the song on repeat.
It’s not your typical “study” song, but even if it doesn’t get that many plays I’ll still stand by how beautiful it is.
7. Was there anything on this record that you managed to pull off that you haven’t been able to previously? Are there any particular moments or tracks that stand out as a paradigm shift in your music going forward?
I think the thing that shifted my music going forward was the track shooting star honestly. It was one of the first tracks that we finished and hearing how softy chose to complete and resolve the song really inspired me in the rest of the album as I chose to add more strings. For most of my music, I’ve been dealing with four bar loops but this album really challenged me which is why there are so many melodic interludes and chord variations. Expect more in the future <3