Album Review: “Cinematic Songs Vol. 7” by Tommee Profitt

When Tommee Profitt comes out with something new, especially an album, you know I have to come out of hiatus for it. Fortunately, this isn’t the only review I am doing this summer. There is a big possibility you will get another when I come back for the end of July.

I didn’t even know it was coming out until about four days before it was released. As of the 20th of June, I still hadn’t listened to it because I kept going back and forth whether I wanted to blog about it, like as a proper album review, but since I hadn’t done one of these in so long that I literally almost vetoed it altogether. Thankfully, I changed my mind because I am in need of a cinematic binge, what about you?

So, let’s recap before we go too far into this post. Tommee started launching these clusters back in 2017. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but it might have something to do with the fact I never talked about volume six–I still don’t understand why I never did anything with it but I will say, it is still an album that isn’t as popular compared to the others for me. After that release, he took a mini break and worked with Fleurie (who frequently lends her voice and lyrics on past works) with their ‘Game of Thrones’ project “Gloria Regali” and then he devoted his time with Christian rapper NF on “The Search” (2019) and “CLOUDS MIXTAPE” (2021), but now he’s back with this bad boy, and I think we’re ready to get into it now.

The first track, “Who Will Save Us” actually features Fleurie, which honestly doesn’t surprise me. Tommee is known to work with both veterans in the cinematic world and some newbies too! I really liked the mild sounding of the introduction, it collides into Fleurie’s voice really well and even when the song explodes with this fierce power, neither one of these aspects are lost in the chaos. My only bad thing about is, it’s pretty short and I think I would have liked it more if it was a little longer and surprised me a little more too. Next we move on to, “Sinners & Saints” and this was the song that made me think we could be getting some new music by Tommee but I did not think an album would follow suit! I adore Beacon Light and I always feel happy and sort of lighter while listening to his songs and this one wasn’t any different. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was Moilba Mustapha and that country vibe coming through in the choruses. It is really good and definitely hits differently!

The artist Stanaj has a gorgeous voice! Personally, I am still obsessed with their track “Love Me” so I was thoroughly ecstatic to see them on here working with Tommee. “I Will Be Your Hero” really cuts you deeply with that slow beginning with just Stanaj’s soft vocals and piano in the background. You always know the song is going to be good if the piano is the main instrument–at least for me it always is! This song is so full of emotions and raw; it’s almost sexy in a way. Our fourth song is “Be Careful” with Laney Jones. I’m pretty sure Laney has been on the other albums but don’t hold me against that because I could be wrong. Anyways, I am in love with the music box lullaby start because it gives it a sweetly dark vibe and thankfully we glide into that feeling for the entire track. I need more of these type of songs honestly. I am surprised it was playing during the promos for the new Conjuring film that came out earlier last month.

As much as I didn’t want it the previous to end, we move to “Reign” with Anna Graceman. Now I will say, I don’t recognize Anna’s name nor her voice, but I like it. She has a soulful element that I didn’t think I needed until I heard it for this song. The track is very pop oriented but with her type of voice, it kind of gives off this bluesy vibe that isn’t overbearing by any means, but it is there as she hits those high notes towards the end. One thing I definitely approve of these albums–well, technically, I approve of a lot of things, but this is a favorite of mine!–s that he will include one or two instrumentals and with this installment, we get two of them. We begin with “Nocturnal Opus” and it definitely gives off that feeling it was created either late at night or after you’ve been up wayy over your limit. However, I really enjoy the eerie sound of the choir in the background. The entire track is spooky and wonderful. It ties in beautiful with “Be Careful” although they are two songs apart from each other.

“Powerful” is the one that I’ve been looking forward to the most as it has two of my favorites: Sam Tinnesz and Ruelle. These artists are very well-known in the cinematic pop world, as Ruelle has worked with the TV series Shadowhunters and Sam Tinnesz is basically everywhere now! I hear them all the time and it always makes so happy to see them getting all of this attention. The song itself is pretty mild but I honestly enjoy this seductive balance between Sam and Ruelle’s voices. They are both quite soft and it was nice to hear a beat match their octaves in this way. I had to listen to this one about three times to actually relish in it for a while. However, I had to go on and “Frontlines” was a nice sequel. It has another guest artist that has worked with Tommee before, Jessie Early. She reminds me of Ruelle but with an extra punch, I think Ruelle is very airy, dreamy sound whereas Jessie has a darker edge and is perfect fit on these fast paced tracks. I think my overall favorite element of this one are the string section near the end. They really make the song better!

The eighth record is called “Wake Up” and we have Xeah and this is so beautiful! I really adored the simple introduction, where its just their voice in that low, almost monotone sound and nothing else. We get a few lines like that but then it explodes and it is really strong and suspenseful in every way. The most interesting thing is, Xeah doesn’t have a lot of lyrics so the rest is instrumental, and it is super hypnotic. I thought this was the coolest one on the album, until I heard the next one. “Lament From The Grave” features Stanaj again, and I don’t want language Stanaj is singing but I love it! It kind of gave me like Hans Zimmer vibes because I’ve heard several tracks that are similar, so it was an interesting and new thing for not only me, but Tommee too, because we haven’t heard anything like this before. It sounds exotic and heartwarming at the same time though.

We are nearing the end of our time together; I hope you’re still with me.

I am such a sucker for anything with a little bit of moxie in it. “Welcome to my world” is definitely one of those types of songs. The artist included in this one is :LYRA, and I don’t quite know if they have been on previous numbers or not, but I like their voice. I feel like this could be great playing on the first episode of “Riverdale” new season this fall or perhaps the reboot of “Gossip Girl” It has a gripping but flirty sound and it is so good! Next is our final instrumental, “The Day Before” and I don’t know about you, but anything with these three words will have a sad element to it. You may not hear it at first but it’s there. I think it was really good, not at all crazy but perfectly balanced to showcase both a lighter and sort of panic atmosphere and it really works well with the final track, which is “Tragic” with Fleurie. It is a beautiful broken type of song and I really like these different sounds of bells going on in the background. It was the perfect ending.

I was honestly a little worried after I started this post, because I wasn’t sure I could do it anymore. I feel like I’m not the best person to review albums because I’m not great at describing things–I feel like I’m worse at discussing music. So, I took a big risk at jumping in with a Tommee Profitt produced album but I did it. I may never understand why I didn’t talk about volume seven but this one was really impressive! It was definitely needed after we went through in 2020, so I would rate it as six out of ten stars altogether.

Have you listened to “Cinematic Songs (Vol 7)” by Tommee Profitt yet? If you have, what song(s) was your favorite? What about the guest singers too?

Music Monday | Tommee Profitt

Hello!

For my last post for this series, I will be talking about Tommee Profitt. A music producer, composer and songwriter that I’ve been keeping up with since probably the end of 2017. I still don’t really know how I found him in the first place; I do remember I was on Spotify, but the connection between the two is still a little foggy. Anyways, it happened and it’s been incredible journey so far!

What a lot of people don’t understand is that, everything is connected in some form or another. Everything happens for a reason.

To me, there really isn’t a big jump between symphonic metal and cinematic/trailer music. I think there are a lot of similiarities between the two of them, epesically when it comes to writing the concept. The lyrics are easy to read and can be filled of different emotions. They both encourage the use of choir and big orchestra elements depending on the mood of the song itself.

Now as I say “trailer” music, I don’t necessarily mean Hans Zimmer, Alan Silverstri, etc. Nowadays, composers like Tommee and vocalists you have probably never heard of yet somehow they are (mostly) all located in Nashville are creating these gorgeous songs for various promos and they are becoming the new generation of what is cinematic music. Lately, the world has started to see the genius of Tommee’s work, which is really awesome! Two years ago, Tommee teamed up with a long time contributor Fleurie to do a tribute album for the final season of “Game Of Thrones”. I previously listened to the soundtrack that was put together Travis Scott, Ellie Goulding, Hallie x Chloe, etc. However, this one was worthy to be part of the score I thought because it was so beautiful with Fleurie’s dreamy vocals and fierce compositions behind her in the music.

You may not know this, but last year he worked with Christian rapper NF on his album The Search. I think the two of them have worked together before this release, but I’m not too sure about it. I feel like I can judge what feels and sounds like something Tommee would create, but in the last two cinematic compilations, he is starting to expeiment with other genres like country and a little bit of rock, which is great but sometimes I have issues with figuring out what Tommee has produced for him or not. There are other artists he tends to work with a lot, and they are Sam Tinnesz, Ruelle and Jung Youth. If you haven’t heard of anybody featured in this post, you should definitely give everybody a listen, trust me, you’ll end up loving something among the people I’ve included in here.

Have you heard of Tommee Profitt’s work? If you have, list that person or any others below in the comments for me! Do you have a favorite track too?

EP Review: “Deeper Things” by Paul Hernandez

Hello!

The day I published the review of PHAVORS debut EP, I also received a message on Twitter asking if I was open to review another artist’s recent release. Christian rapper Paul Hernandez told me about his brand new EP called “Deeper Things” which I thought was interesting, considering the time we’re living in now everybody is allowing themselves to feel deep feelings. I haven’t listened to anything yet, so I’m happy to finally start writing what I feel and think to each track.

We start with the title track “Deeper Things” and the first thing I thought of was this is a nice beat! Despite the fact that I don’t review a lot of rap music, I have been known to be very picky on the sound that echoes out of my speakers. I liked it for what it was, it had groove and a nice melody. Nice way to begin this journey! The second is “Mañana” which means “morning”. I really loved the light and slow introduction and it leads into a bop with a worship vibe going on. I feel like it would be a great motivational or workout song to pump you through your day. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was towards the end of it, the beat slows back down and you hear Paul singing and a noticeable guitar laced bridge. I think that was what made me enjoy it even more!

Our third song is “Little Bit” and again, we have a sweet beginning; the tempo stays the same throughout the whole thing. You can clearly hear Paul talking and in the choruses, I kept thinking I was hearing a feminine voice in the background. The one person he sounds like is Khalid, they have the same soulful tone that I love and the lyrics are really good too. It would be great for these new high school graduates, as they enter the world on their own. It’s one of those feel good songs at the end of summer! I think I might add it to my summer playlist in September too.

“Runaway” is next and this is another good end-of-the-summer tune. It’s nice and chill, and reminds me of late afternoons, which was so odd because I was doing this review at five o’clock on a Friday. There’s not many times were everything lines up right at the same time, so I knew it had to be fate! The last track “Till You Found Me” and it is a true Christian type of song but for those like me, the meaning isn’t too in your face. I enjoyed the electric guitar in the background when he was rapping, for a while it was just those two sounds coming through and then all of a sudden, there’s a damn trumpet! It totally threw me for a loop, but I thought it was an interesting addition. It was an awesome end.

I think my favorites were “Mañana” and “Little Bit,” mainly because they were both easy-going and made me think of positive things, not that the others don’t have that quality, I was just into them more for some reason. If you need a late summer addition to your music library, I definitely suggest you check out Paul’s stuff. It will bring a little sparkle to your day.

Have you heard of Paul Hernandez before this review? If this is your first time, what tracks were your favorites?