13 Months Of Sunshine

About

The Portland rapper broke through in 2016 with the carefree “Caroline” as an eager student of André 3000 and Tyler, The Creator, then spent the next almost-decade finding his own voice: witty but searching, with a penchant for bright, bubbly beats. Now 31, Aminé is ready for a long, five-star vacation on his third studio album, <i>13 Months of Sunshine</i>, his first since 2020’s existential <i>Limbo</i>. (In the years between, he dabbled in hyperpop on 2021’s <i>TWOPOINTFIVE</i> and collaborated with KAYTRANADA on 2023’s <i>KAYTRAMINÉ</i>.) He’s in his deep-house bag on “Familiar” and “Vacay,” on which he finds himself two spritzes deep, “out of office” email in effect, draped in a hotel robe, “on my Dua Lipa.” He jets across the pond on “Arc de Triomphe,” skating over a UK garage shuffle that samples The Streets. But it’s not all affogatos and plunge pools: On Leon Thomas duet “New Flower!” he recalls his days as an intern for Complex and Def Jam, remembering being sent to fetch sandwiches for Big Sean. And after a beat switch on Afrobeats bop “13MOS,” he dives deep into his Ethiopian and Eritrean family legacy: “I was named after my grandfather/So, I can’t put shame to the name I’m proud of.”

via Apple Music