UMI - Love Language (2019)

UMI is a Seattle-born, LA-based R&B singer-songwriter. She’s also a visual artist who creates thoughtful and imaginative videos to her music, freely exploring and exploding her image and identity. Love Language collects the musical element of four episodic videos where she plays a part human, part anime version of herself, filtering her perspective through electro-tinged R&B. She captures a romance’s giddiness on “Love Affair” while also tracking warning signs (an exquisite duet with Yeek, “Runnin’”). The gently poetic “Sukidakara” (“because I like you”) is performed primarily in Japanese, but no translations are needed to figure out the meaning. The EP closer “Breathe” reveals a plot twist, so listen to Love Language to find out what happens.