Written by Elijah P.
“There’s a fire in my kitchen” Ena opens the album with arms as wide as an eagle spreading across the pop concrete. Then all of a sudden, the album now opens a portal. To what seems to be an unintentional anachronism, Offshore Music‘s Ena Mori isn’t a fool to trick us into such sonic nostalgia. Saying that this release is a statement has already run its course in many other publications. “There’s a fire in my kitchen” Ena sings wickedly for less than a minute. It says more than just a “statement”, but rather, what comes next is an experience succeeding many pop records’ longevity. It’s a sure shot from the get-go. “Don’t Blame The Wild One!” is an album that succeeds sonic barriers never before bent in any album ever locally from both an emotional and production standpoint. It asserts pop dominance. Ever since releasing her debut EP at the start of the lockdown, her debut album this time around is expansive, more fruitful, and less banal.
By the time this writing is published, the debut project has already gone outside of streaming platforms, acting as a nomad in territories where it was never before tapped by Ena’s refreshing brand of pop music. Performing the songs live all over the Luzon region, the last leg of her album tour stops right at her hometown of Las Pinas. This alone proves that Ena’s not playing around. Not for the rest of “Don’t Blame The Wild One!” 10 tracks at the very least. As the pop-sphere is still in this state of stasis post-Sarah G’s Tala, the well ran dry, and the arrival of Ena Mori’s debut “DON’T BLAME THE WILD ONE!” is an impactful listen from start to finish. But like her album tour, there’s a lot of territory waiting to be uncovered in each listen.
Highlights like “TALK! TALK!”, “OH, BLEEDING HEARTS?” and “A HIGHER PLACE!” begs the question that pop structures are supposed to be limitless. With the assistance of her producer Tim Marquez – his production works like a surgical music technician, making sure that there is indeed no musical template to abide by. Symphonic soars and flutters — rhythmically in motion — corresponding to every hook. Ena responds by shouting, yelling, harmonizing and screaming at the top of her lungs to achieve such lengths; Vocal gallops over crushed mallets of kick drums and time reversed-ocean-wave synths; Lyrical phrases calculated over every left turn in the production. What the listener would pick up from all of these spots is that Ena Mori is a jack of all trades. A pop star whose moments are savored by devils in the detail – the devil being a random plugin avoiding a pop cliche.
Recently released singles like “RUNAWAY HOLIDAY!” and “SOS” have monumental hooks and driving melodies — the usual boxes that are already ticked, only to be boosted by Ena and company’s envelope-pushing production. But as the highlights glossed over in the debut album, there were moments where the second half of the album starts to slightly go downhill.
Lowlights like “WHITEROOM” and the reimagining of “FALL IN LOVE” are tracks that meander after the fantastic 4-5 track run midway in the album. Arguably, these might be track arrangement issues, but by the end of the day, these are tracks that could’ve been emphasized as pop bangers rather than straight-up non-single filler. The last half of “A HIGHER PLACE” ends abruptly, heading straight into “SOS” with no prelude or any build-up whatsoever. If the result was truly intentional, then some listeners would beg to differ since it had the most invested Ena has ever been in terms of vocals. Regardless of whatever intent and purpose this album delivered, it has heart, if not value to Ena’s moment of solidifying her identity as an artist.
The debut project has a lot of sonic territory covered, layer after layer, production texture overlapping the other. It achieved something great, but there needs to be more than what was already out. Like any other listener’s natural curiosity: will there ever be more to hear? more to hear besides what was already done? The answer to that query is simple: Don’t blame the wild ones for pushing what’s new. Ena’s only burned the kitchen, she has the rest of her house left to bring it all down.
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