In a recent Instagram post, London-based musical artist Bakar offered a glimpse into the creative process behind his newly-released sophomore album, 'Halo,' confessing that he crafted the record while constantly on the move, staying in various hotels, BNBS, and even his own house. It's an earnest revelation that sets the tone for an album that distinctly reflects Bakar's departure from the confines of traditional big studios.

Hailing from the UK, Bakar has made a name for himself with a genre-blurring sound that melds rock, punk, hip-hop, and R&B elements. His refusal to be confined by genre conventions has earned him a dedicated fan base, critical acclaim, and stuck-in-your-head tracks you can play anywhere and anytime.

With the opening track, OneInOneOut of the newly-released album, Bakar invites you to continue to embrace the unexpected from him and revel in the genre-defying nature we’ve come to love. An infectious yet simplistic electric strum is played throughout the entire track, accompanied by an all-too-familiar story of being young, hopeless, and chasing the highs and lows of love—a theme that’s pretty much carried across each track. Even so, OneInOneOut sets us up for the perfect dive into the rest of the album.  

As you move through Halo, melodies and riffs bleed together seamlessly on tracks like Alive!, All Night, and Right Here, for now, creating nostalgic and neoteric feelings that creep in—you feel like you've been here before, but the light switches aren’t where they used to be, making it all the better. With slower and arguably more emotional tracks like Selling Biscuits and Invisible, you still get the same Bakar special, but with inflicted tugs at your heart that remind you of past flings that never ended the way you wish they did in your head.

Similarly to Baker’s other releases, Halo feels like summer, and the last track includes one of Bakar’s notable standouts from his career, Hell N Back [though with a new feature by Summer Walker], which seems to have been the soundtrack to the warm season for everyone back in 2019. Though Halo’s arrival times up perfectly with the end of summer and start of fall, it needs no seasonal timeline to be memorable.

Bakar's raw and unmistakable vocals grab your attention in a way that no one else has seemed to achieve in a while, regardless of what he’s singing about. After a full listen-through, you’re left reassured that heartbreak is universal and utterly painful but better when up against a soundtrack that takes you anywhere but 'here.' 

Give it a spin, and let us know what you think about this latest release. Tap here to listen to Halo.