• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Vinyl Chapters

Vinyl Chapters

The Stories Behind The Music

  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • News
  • Submit
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Cart
Home » articles » Glints: 28 Days – Mixtape Review

Glints: 28 Days – Mixtape Review

July 7, 2020 by Imogen Lawlor

Glints

Glints 28 Days: A fascinatingly disturbing insight into the whole gamut of lockdown emotions.

“Face mask on, matching rubber gloves like I’m way too fashion – frustration. No I’m not doing too well”.

Probably the most accurate summary of lockdown life, Glints’ latest release 28 Days presents a sharp and poignant depiction of the emotional turmoil of isolation. The mixtape is cinematic in every sense of the word: a continuous flow of music brimming with film references, accompanied by a video by Glen Schrijverys and Iljen Put.

Glints plunges the listener into an intense and noisy sound world in track one itsafuckinglockdown, inspired by UK Grime instrumentals to depict the suffocating cabin fever of quarantine. The accompanying video’s vivid colour scheme of blue, red, black and white immerses the listener in an inescapable synaesthetic nightmare, while the perpetual recurrence of a rippling, moustached smiley face in the video becomes weirdly comforting throughout this unpredictable journey. Glints’ unique lyricism combines humour and anxiety in close proximity. The opening track sounds like the introduction to some sort of comedy dystopian musical until you realise that lines such as “Friends and family are a luxury” disguised behind a fast BPM convey the sinister reality of our new normal.

Glints - 28 Days

The mixtape also touches on serious themes such as mental health. Diary of a Hypochondriac notes the anxiety of going to the shops and realizing “left my sanitizer at home, I might well cry” – again funny, but tragically relatable. A more nauseated tone pervades Populist Puppet with the triplet flow, queasy cross-rhythms and spinning visuals creating a whirlwind of dysphoria. Even more disturbingly, the only moment of sonic and rhythmic calm is during a sample of Donald Trump’s bizarre speech suggesting to inject bleach to cure the virus: a chilling reminder of how little we can rely on the comfort of strong leadership.

The latter half of the mixtape takes a more melancholy tone, with L.I.T.O.C (love in times of corona) offering a pensive reflection on the difficulties of maintaining a relationship in lockdown when “visiting you is considered a crime”. The sparsely textured final track Outside featuring Fivez leaves a vulnerable question mark hanging over our heads: how much longer will this be our reality and for how much longer can we stomach it? These are hard-hitting questions, but the acknowledgement of these sentiments is refreshing as it can feel hard to discuss the mental health crisis accompanying this pandemic when so many are losing their loved ones. 

28 days is a powerful gesamtkunstwerk that offers a frank and stark insight into isolation emotions. It’s funny, yet disturbing to imagine that one day it might be used to teach our children coronavirus history. 

Score: 4/5

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Review Tagged With: 28 Days, Glints, Grime

About Imogen Lawlor

A lover of hip-hop and beyond. A keen ear for a strong album. A true lover of music and everything that can be unravelled from it.

Reader Interactions

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to our Newsletter

* indicates required

Recent Posts

Charlie Puth

Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review

JP Hoe

New Music Fridays – 5th August 2022

Footer

Navigation

Home

About

Reviews

Features

News

Submit

Contact Us

Shop

Search

Recent Posts

  • Taylor Swift: Midnights – Album Review
  • Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review
  • Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review
  • New Music Fridays – 5th August 2022
  • Hayley Kiyoko: Panorama – Review

Social Media

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Affiliate Disclosure

Vinyl Chapters is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. In doing so, this helps us continue providing free content. It does not increase the price for you in any way.

Copyright © 2023 Vinyl Chapters | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Editorial Team