Hi, everyone. Pinkthony Drinktano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Aminé album, 13 Months of Sunshine.

Here we have the third full-length LP of Portland rapper Aminé, which I think is perfectly packaged to fit the relaxed and lackadaisical energy he is approaching this new era of his career with. Because honestly, it feels like eons since the release of Aminé's last proper solo album, Limbo, in 2020, which I think is still my favorite release from him so far because it was such a bold and creative album from him that showcased a lot of range that you don't see in hip hop often.

It's impressive how on that album and since, Aminé has been able to maintain mainstream appeal while also having the capacity in mind to collaborate with artists that have maybe more of an indie or underground appeal. I mean, just looking at the feature list on Limbo, you have Young Thug, Injury Reserve, Summer Walker, JID, Vince Staples, also Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Now, his only notable releases since he dropped Limbo, again, back in 2020, were that TwoPointFive mixtape, which frankly was breathing easy. Then also the Kaytranada, Kaytramine crossover album that dropped back in 2023, which was a pretty scant collection of danceable pop rap and hip house tracks. For sure, while a few banger singles did come out of this tracklist, the lack of urgency and memorable choruses on many of these songs made it a disappointing record overall.

Now down the road, a few years later, while we do have a new solo album from Aminé here, in a lot of respects, I feel like this record might as well just be an extension of the Kaytramine era. Not that Kaytranada is taking over production-wise on this record, too. He's not. But once again, on this album, Aminé is keeping things relatively toned down and leaning into lots of summery instrumentals, danceable beats, chill flows.

But if there's anything that makes 13 Months of Sunshine different this time around, it's that I feel like Aminé uses many of the tracks on this record as an opportunity to get more personal, get more reflective, with many songs and verses that explore his family, love, also the way his life and mindset have been changing as of late. The guy is clearly in a low gear on this record and somewhat in vacation mode, really in no rush to speedrun his career at the moment or outdo himself in any way.

I mean, not to say there is no growth at all creatively on this record. I mean, there certainly is in terms of Aminé coming to us with really no filter whatsoever on some of these tracks. He does bear it all emotionally and sometimes sexually here, which may seem strange, considering how carefree and I think agreeable a lot of the music on this record is, generally. But I think that's a very intentional juxtaposition that's going on here.

This is an album that I think turns the speakers up because it's feeling sad. It's dancing with tears streaming down its face. I think that very MO is spelled out on the opening track of the record, "New Flower", where Aminé really goes over a lot of what has been weighing on his mind as of late. But I think much of the album from here is spent trying to just tune a lot of that stuff out as Aminé just loses himself in a frenzy of parties, drugs, thugs, getaways, and sometimes sexcapades.

As solid as some of the beats are as this is all happening, the experience of it all in this tracklist is a blur. That is until we hit awkward lyrical moments, like on the track "Sage Time", which Aminé opens up and also repeats this line, too, at a few different points: "After I nut, it's like a truck hit me."

So yeah, there's moments like that that are quite distracting. And there are others where Amine detours emotionally into a moody place, which I actually think results in some of the record's best moments, such as the song "History" with Waxahatchee, believe it or not. But as beautiful as the song is, it's a little bittersweet, too, as it's very much about how emotionally overwhelming it can be to be in love with someone who you share a past with.

But then after this, we are immediately back to vibing and going on vacation and having ravioli, putting on sunscreen, which is fine. It's catchy enough. However, these tracks do really start to feel like filler, like with the track "Familiar", one of the shorties on this record whose vocals are so chopped up, it feels like I'm listening to a remix or something. It just doesn't feel like a properly fleshed out song.

Following this, "Doing the Best I Can" makes an attempt at trying to be a reflection on growing and becoming an adult, the man of your family, really, and doing what you should do in order to be that person who you know you need to be. But while this song does bring these feelings up, Aminé doesn't dig into them deep enough lyrically to really suss anything out of them.

Meanwhile, "Be Easier on Yourself" is probably the best instance of food for thought on the album or advice being set to a very relaxing, beach friendly funk playlist type production.

Then the final leg of the record, sadly, ends more inconspicuously than the album started. I think "13 Months" is pretty good. Love the persistent group vocal samples throughout this track. The beats and the grooves are really entrancing. But honestly, what I really wanted from this song, or really at least a little more from this record, is what occurs after the beat switch in the final leg of this track, where Aminé really starts giving us some more thoughtful and contemplative bars and actually digging into what is fueling, I guess, the moodiness that he's really trying to run away from for the bulk of this record.

The last two tracks on the album, sadly, are not much to write home about. I don't know. The record, I feel like, is just very very agreeable, very forgettable. Some of the more personal and introspective spots of the LP for sure, are pretty good. But for the most part, the danceable tracks are hit or miss in terms of whether or not they actually grab my attention. Even when they do, to some degree, it feels like Aminé... there's a bit of an elephant in the room on this album. It's just the very loud, difficult to ignore emotions that he is just trying to tune out much of the time.

While I think at least a few or a handful of moments where you're trying to work outside of those and give the audience something that they really want is commendable and understandable, the degree to which he goes in that direction, though, in this tracklist, just feels like he's trying to plug his fingers in his ears and go "la la la la la la la la la la la la."

Which, sadly, I think, held this album back from its full emotional range and potential, which is why I'm feeling like a light to decent 5 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, Aminé, of Forever.