8 Minutes\u00a0<\/strong>
Aeternum <\/strong>
En Garde\u00a0<\/strong>
The Party <\/strong>
Drunk*\u00a0<\/strong>
The Afterparty<\/strong>
Parking Lot\u00a0<\/strong>
Home\u00a0<\/strong>
W. McKinley\u00a0<\/strong>
Ten Years<\/strong>
Someday<\/strong>
Signals\u00a0<\/strong>
Forbidden Fruit<\/strong>
…\u00a0<\/strong>
Found!<\/strong>
… (Continued)<\/strong>
Graceland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/the-new-curious-city.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOver the course of four years, Portraits of Tracy crafted one of 2023\u2019s most well-executed and emotionally refined music releases: Drive Home<\/em>. The moniker Portraits of Tracy is coupled with an impressive biography. Portraits of Tracy is the project by (now) 19-year-old Tracy Amare from Baton Rouge, Louisiana who began publishing hip-hop beat remakes and self-produced works on platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube at 15 years old. You see, Drive Home<\/em> is an extensive project by such a young, self-taught producer and multifaceted musician who created its intricate musical landscape. The songs that compose this landscape cover elements of jazz, hip-hop, electronica, soul, and folk\u2013but they are always interwoven with a fresh, \u201cgenreless\u201d sonic foundation that is perfectly molded for Portraits of Tracy\u2019s musical worldbuilding. Tracy\u2019s knack for musical worldbuilding shines throughout Drive Home<\/em> as each song reflects on a raw, human narrative through its main character, Junie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between the primarily musical tracks, there are several tracks that serve as dialogue-based, narrative interludes. The three-minute opening track \u201cLost!\u201d feels like a portal entrance into the album\u2019s landscape with a celestial buildup involving the xylophone, which gradually welcomes the heaviness of electric guitar and Tracy\u2019s powered vocals. \u201cLost!\u201d smoothly transitions into the first narrative interlude, \u201c8 Minutes,\u201d the album\u2019s introduction to Junie, a young artist longing for rest before his performance set in 8 minutes. It is worth noting that besides the voice actors in interludes like \u201c8 Minutes,\u201d each track is executively produced by Portraits of Tracy. The following track \u201cAeternum\u201d is a perfect showcase of her smile-inducing talents, complete with addictive beat switches, poppy vocal chops from The Whatnauts\u2019 1971 track \u201cMy Thing,\u201d string sections, and Tracy rapping in Junie\u2019s perspective about emotional discourse surrounding identity. Although that brief description does not do the narrative justice, there is no doubt that\u2013just three tracks in\u2013listeners witness Drive Home<\/em>\u2019s tasteful maximalism via heavy production elements over intense lyricism, which contributes to the lingering sense of urgency in the album\u2019s storytelling. \u201cAeternum\u201d ends with an introduction to Ema, Junie\u2019s roadie and companion throughout the \u201cshitshow\u201d (story).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The theme of identity plays an imperative role throughout the project. Track 4: \u201cEn Garde\u201d poses as a profound revelation of identity and pulls us into the harsh emotions consuming Junie in this chapter with a heavier use of percussive elements to complement Tracy\u2019s vocal layers. In July of 2023, Tracy Amare posted via social media about her journey coming out as a transgender woman and expressed gratitude for all of the received online support from the past years. Referring to her past moniker and government name: \u201cthat person WAS NOT REAL.\u201d One could only assume the parallels between Tracy and Junie, but one thing is for certain: the theme of identity and acceptance of identity is interwoven throughout Drive Home<\/em> and Portraits of Tracy\u2019s execution of that theme is masterful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leading into dopamine-inducing \u201cThe Party,\u201d the role of dialogue and spoken word feel essential to the listening experience of Drive Home<\/em>. The inferred importance of each track, as one progresses into the next as part of a narrative, further solidifies how well Portraits of Tracy implements musical worldbuilding. From \u201cThe Party\u201d to the following track, \u201cDrunk*,\u201d the hypnotic production involving synths and a pulsing bass continues to immerse the listener in Junie\u2019s riveting emotions even without an interlude track. Well, \u201cThe Afterparty\u201d clarifies Junie\u2019s experience as an \u201cepisode\u201d and exerts the force of such emotions with heartbreaking lyrics like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m stuck in this rabbit hole<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m falling infinite<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mama I don’t wanna die<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But when I do, I know I’m gonna fry<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, Ema\u2019s role as a friend who truly understands and cares for Junie shines in the next interlude track, \u201cParking Lot.\u201d The violently dramatic transition into \u201cHome\u201d grasps tightly onto that lingering urgency, as the track perfectly depicts Junie\u2019s tendency to stay away from home as an escape from his old, unauthentic self. The R&B-flowing track \u201cW. McKinley\u201d and interlude \u201cTen Years\u201d essentially feel like a surrendering trip down memory lane as Junie makes his way back home and meets his mother, Marie, and, after ten years, his friend, Amari. Although the middle of Drive Home<\/em> is less composed of those whirling production elements heard in opening tracks, the narrative of Junie\u2019s life feels most imperative at this point, creating an intent balance in the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going into Track 12: \u201cSomeday,\u201d Portraits of Tracy\u2019s musical ideas seem to dance well with the craft of other artists. The track itself samples Labi Siffre\u2019s 1973 track of the same title (\u201cSomeday\u201d), which prompted my recollection of Siffre as an openly gay, black folk artist. Although Portraits of Tracy\u2019s inclusion of Siffre\u2019s music has no direct correlation to the narrative, at the least, I heavily appreciated the beauty of the sonic parallels between the two tracks while listening to \u201cSomeday.\u201d Beyond the samples, the image below lists all of the artists that inspired Drive Home<\/em>. As you can see, the depth of Portraits of Tracy\u2019s insight into music at this point of her young adult life is simply breathtaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following \u201cSomeday\u201d and approaching the end of the album, Ema and Junie\u2019s relationship are key to \u201cSignals\u201d and \u201cForbidden Fruit,\u201d as Junie confesses his love to Ema in front of his family and friends. \u201cForbidden Fruit\u201d follows a similar production route as the past musical tracks, but the role of lyricism clearly overtakes the importance of production at this point. Nonetheless, the staccato articulation of the synth is tastefully integrated into the track as the album reaches a critical checkpoint. Track 15: \u201c…\u201d once again utilizes a dialogue-based interlude to express that critical checkpoint, as the discourse surrounding Junie\u2019s confession prompts his mother, Marie, to storm off with frustration. The almost-complete worldbuilding of Drive Home<\/em> at this point has only displayed how the well-executed performances, integrated into the musical landscape itself, make this project a precious addition to 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reaching the end, \u201cFound!\u201d and \u201c… (Continued)\u201d encapsulate a heart-racing climax to the narrative world that Portraits of Tracy has created. Junie previously poured himself out to Ema and others surrounding them, which freed him from the bottled-up fear that plagued him from the start. Despite the discourse following Junie\u2019s confessions, \u201cFound!\u201d (as opposed to the opening track, \u201cLost!) takes the listener through a conflicting yet liberating euphoria with the vocal-synth chops over pulsing percussion that keenly imitate heartbeats. The smooth transition into the final interlude track, \u201c… (Continued),\u201d suddenly kills the flame ignited in \u201cFound!\u201d as Junie learns that his mother died in a car accident after angrily leaving the event. The final track, \u201cGraceland,\u201d captures Junie\u2019s reaction and closes that \u201cportal\u201d that once pulled the listener into Drive Home<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGraceland\u201d is a special song of 2023, or possibly of the entire decade, because it is an outstanding, maximalist, and emotional masterpiece that perfectly closes the substantive, colorful project that is Drive Home<\/em>. As the lyrics imply, Junie truly leaves everything behind by taking his own life via overdose (\u201cI\u2019ve swallowed all of my pills\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n to finally get the feeling of being all alone\u2026\u201d) and the world he knows is slowly fading away. The first three minutes of the track sonically reflect on the chaos filling Junie\u2019s life after receiving news of Marie\u2019s death, then a minute of whirling yet popping piano sounds place the track at a moment of brief resolution until the pulsing, layered production elements return. The buildup of the track\u2019s ending is astonishingly heavenly, as the returning electric guitar, synths, and choir-like vocal performance create an overwhelming sensation that is perfectly juxtaposed with the disintegration of the world we knew in Drive Home<\/em>. \u201cGraceland\u201d ends the story just as well as the entire album built the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To put it simply, Tracy Amare (\u201cPortraits of Tracy\u201d) knows how to tell the perfect story through music and 2023\u2019s Drive Home<\/em> is a testimony to that. At the current age of 19 years old, she possesses the insight of artists that have decades of musical discography under their belt. This 4-year project offered listeners a glimpse into Tracy\u2019s worldbuilding talents while gradually pulling them into the narrative itself. For that, I am extremely thrilled to see where Portraits of Tracy takes her production and multi-instrumental skills moving into the upcoming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out Portraits Of Tracy’s masterpiece, ‘Drive Home’ on bandcamp<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also stream it on Spotify<\/a> and Apple Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drive Home is an extensive project by such a young, self-taught producer and multifaceted musician who created its intricate musical landscape. The songs that compose this landscape cover elements of jazz, hip-hop, electronica, soul, and folk\u2013but they are always interwoven with a fresh, \u201cgenreless\u201d sonic foundation that is perfectly molded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[7,69],"artist":[156],"genre":[157,158,121],"coauthors":[155],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albums","tag-aoty","tag-swans-nest-radio","artist-portraits-of-tracy","genre-genreless","genre-hip-hop","genre-rb"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/the-new-curious-city.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image.jpeg\")
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