Johan Lenox's new single, "Finally," featuring Alé Araya, is a rare exception that breathes eerie life into the stagnant edges of modern music. Dropped as the third single from his forthcoming album, it's the otherworldly lovechild of classical strings, mashed electronics, and raw vocal emotion that lingers. Johan is known for blending orchestral textures with contemporary production, and he has cultivated his own identity that revels in tension and contradiction. "Finally" is no exception.
With the first bar, a delicate string trio is set to work as a taut bedrock, conjuring an atmosphere that would be perfect for a requiem lit by candlelight for our crumbling world. Alé Araya's vocals match the mood, and she sinks into it. Alé's voice is as unpredictable here as it always has been, with a spectral quality that flutters back and forth between human and ethereal. She and Johan sound as if they are speaking in some lost language, her airiness locked in with his firm, humbled delivery. The track bends and glitches, but amid its moments of digital decay, every crescendo is elegant. It's as if Lenox is soundtracking the end of days and somehow even manages to make it tender. The music unfurls like a journal left open in the rain: intimate but chaotic, refined yet ruinous.
"Finally" is a slow burn, a whispered scream, an out-of-focus snapshot of connection amid a world falling apart. Johan Lenox has worked with artists such as Kanye West, Travis Scott, 070 Shake, and Metro Boomin, demonstrating an ability to navigate between mainstream and more avant-garde collaborations. However, "Finally" seems to indicate that he's not just navigating, but constructing something altogether. And with artists like Alé Araya on his side, that world is an even more surreal and compelling place than ever. This is music for the end and perhaps, a new beginning of all things.