Limited, but still full of vibes and atmosphere, zensei ゼンセー’s destination heartbreak is an album that takes you through a set of feelings and sensations that you can truly sink into. With a distinctly lo-fi feel and occasional house elements, destination heartbreak captures a sense of sadness, yearning, distance and hope – a mix of various moods that result in a very atmospheric and immersive album.
Based in Vancouver, zensei ゼンセー has previously released music under the name Soulji, and was half of the duo Eminence. This is his first full LP under the name zensei ゼンセー, though not his first ever release – six songs featured on this album were released prior and were later repackaged into the full destination heartbreak LP alongside a few new tracks.
For the lo-fi songs in the album, a couple of highlights are “kaleidoscope”, a notably melodic piece whose background piano melody helps colour the song into something that sounds like its title. It makes for a very pretty listening experience, making it feel like you can hear the interior reflectiveness of a kaleidoscope. There is also the “dreaming of you” and “dreaming of you too” duology, two companion songs that are unique enough to be distinguishable, yet still share core sounds and rhythms, feeling like a recollection of something shared by two people with their own different perspectives embedded into the musical presentation.
There are fewer house tracks in this album than lo-fi ones, though they are still good songs. “who we are” in particular stands out as the energy greatly differs from most songs on the album. Easily the most danceable track, though at the same time feeling a bit strangely placed in comparison to the feel of most of the album. I enjoyed the track, but when considering the feel of the whole album, I’m not too sure how well it actually fits. The other house track in the album is “magic”, which to me is a weaker house track by convention of its subgenre, outsider house, which blends it more with a lo-fi sound and style, but with some house musical conventions. This does not hurt the song too much, as I enjoyed listening to it, and it also felt like the most uplifting song of the album, which is a pleasant reprieve from a lot of the sadder, introspective feel of the majority of the album.
Having this album be entirely instrumental leaves a lot to the imagination in terms of what meaning a listener can derive from it. This means it is very much open to interpretation, which allows for the music to serve the listener in different ways depending on the context in which they engage with the music. Though I do not seek out laid-back and atmospheric sounds, destination heartbreak was still able to serve as a pleasant listening experience, and it should serve as one for any other listeners who choose to give this album a chance.