In theory, Nick Hakim crafts soul music, yet what you hear often feels more like an excursion into spirit-driven sound. The Queens-born polymath, a trusted collaborator for artists as varied as Adrianne Lenker and Lil Yachty, shows up on a wide spectrum of records. Still, his most striking work might be contained in his own catalog, where he builds ethereal R&B tunes with sonic design so pristine that it becomes an instrument in its own right.
I Can See, arriving Friday, marks Hakim’s first full-length in four years, though portions of it reach back even further, to before the 2022 release Cometa. He toiled for five years refining these cuts, shaping studio versions that retain the intimacy of their original bedroom sketches. With a circle of longtime collaborators, he summons understated grooves as if conjured from thin air, weaving them into a hazy mirage. Even the electronic drums cohere into a single fabric, a sound that evokes both holograms and dusty vinyl at once. The results are stunning and haunting, an evolution of the spectral R&B throwbacks found on the earliest How To Dress Well records. If birds in the trap sing McKnight, the birds in the afterworld sing Hakim.
Hakim co-produced I Can See with Andrew Sarlo, who mixed Cometa and has helped steer some of the most celebrated indie-adjacent music of the last decade. Sarlo has aided artists like Dijon and Bon Iver in treating the studio as an instrument to reinvent their sound. Sonically, I Can See marks a comparable quantum leap. Yet instead of the deconstructed, future-forward textures of albums like Baby and i,i, these tracks achieve a celestial, organic feel, the sound of the purely natural meeting the supernatural. Or perhaps they’re simply vivid portraits of what it’s like to sink into a cherished past, yearning for what’s been lost. “It all comes back/ In a mist/ Then it fades away like before,” Hakim sings on the opening title track, elevating his voice to a delicate falsetto that dances with the nimbleness of prime Michael Jackson.
While the lineup shifts slightly from song to song, Hakim predominantly leans on a core unit throughout: Vishal Nayak and Abe Rounds handle drums and percussion, Joe Harrison and Dylan Day contribute guitars, and Kyle Miles plays bass. Occasionally, Jake Sherman sits in on piano and organ, though Hakim himself frequently handles piano, synth, and MPC work, all while delivering his softly virtuosic vocals. The credits sparkle with playful surprises, some perfectly fitting, such as Moses Sumney and June McDoom lending voices to the grainy, guitar-driven “The Reason.” Others defy expectations, including two songwriting credits for Julian Pratt of the experimental hardcore outfit Show Me The Body, one of which pairs Pratt’s name with Arto Lindsay.
Considering the multitude of recording locations—from the storied Sonic Ranch in Texas to several opulent New York studios and a handful of home setups—the uniform aesthetic across the tracks is striking. Cometa was woozy, whispered, and sleek, yet its songs arrived with pristine clarity. These pieces feel as though they were recorded in an old dwelling, on the far side of a room inhabited by some divine presence. Intentionally or not, Hakim’s lyrics convey that sensation well: “Love our late night noise parade/ The source feels far away/ And it shifts like soft wet clay/ But always stays the same.”
One track, “Real Here Now,” even directly references gathering with loved ones who have passed away. “My sister, she’s been learning magic/ She claims, she talks to grandpa in the attic,” Hakim intones, the music floating weightlessly, like a spirit adrift. Yet even there, the phantoms haunting the narrator are more likely former lovers. “I hear laughing, and it sounded just like you,” he continues. “I hear singing, that song you always love to do.” Hakim wrote these songs while navigating “the end of a record deal and a long-term relationship.” Consequently, they’re saturated with a profound mournfulness. It feels as if he’s moving through a fog of memory and feeling, transmuting heavy loads into songs as light as air.
Those treading a comparable path may find shared ache in Hakim’s flickering laments. Yet despite the sadness, I Can See isn’t a downbeat listen. Hakim infuses these tracks with a calming grace; his darkest nights may reduce you to a puddle, but they are just as apt to guide you toward an elevated tranquility. Personally, I’ve spent countless hours marveling at what he accomplishes here, grasping why he sings, “My ears can’t believe what they’re seeing.”
I Can See drops on 7/24 via Earseed. You can pre-order it here.
Other albums of note out this week:
- Charli XCX’s Music, Fashion, Film
- The Strokes’ Reality Awaits
- Rico Nasty’s RX
- Sam And Louise Sullivan’s Love & Devotion
- IAN SWEET’s Shiverstruck
- zayALLCAPS’ My Uncle Told Me Some Real Ass Shit On The Phone Yesterday
- Josaleigh Pollett’s In The Garden, By The Weeds
- Tyla’s A*Pop
- Alex Cameron’s Late To Set
- REZN’s Cycles In The Infinite Dream
- Punch Brothers’ The Unsung Adventures Of Punch Brothers
- Lockstep’s I Know What I Saw
- Little Gold’s Public Dog
- kelz’s A Sweet Passerby
- CEL RAY’s CEL RAYZER
- Long Odds’ The Dry Land
- Shania Twain’s Little Miss Twain
- Willow’s The Thread
- Joudy’s Permanent Maintenance
- Budjerah’s Gentleman
- Robyn Hitchcock’s The Confuser
- Trophy Wife’s Pathetic
- The Revivalists’ Get It Honest
- Body Type’s Tally
- Baby Queen’s I Hope You Don’t Remember Me
- Foodman’s HIKARIGASASHIKOMU
- Soda Gumball’s Super Honey Teaspoon!
- Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown’s A Supreme Blue
- Kirk Barley’s Arc
- Chenayder’s Outdated
- Denise Julia’s LOVE AGAIN EP
- Dorio’s Agent Friday & The Perfect Angel
- girlsweetvoiced’s Lovesweet
- Charles Lloyd’s Sangam & Friends
- atmos bloom’s Everythingness
- Blue States’ Where The Fades Meet
- Legado 7’s LEGENDARIO
- Kenyon Dixon’s Ego Ruins Everything
- XELTA’s B.D.S.M. EP
- Sam Blasucci’s Black Rose
- Various Artists’ Sounds of Malawi, Vol 1
- Plain Mister Smith’s Bric-a-Brac Attack
- Madball’s Not Your Kingdom
- Mayday Parade’s Sugar
- Million Moths’ Spun
- Miles Hewitt’s Vainglory
- Odor Eater’s But For Who?
- Johnny Delaware’s On God’s Time
- Love Spells’ Love Is The Law
- Nu Jazz’s Un Jazz
- Josh Da Costa’s New Wave Graveyard
- Lockimara’s Only Sun, Only Moon
- Bleached Cross’ Wrath
- ME’s All Good Things
- 12k Gotti’s MADLIFE Mixtape
- Waterparks’ JINX
- Carter Faith’s Cherry Valley Forever
- Wild Gods’ The Glorious Abysmal
- Cypress Hill’s Dios Bendiga
- Corey King’s Change The Wind
- Big Fat Head’s Global Voyeur
- Pete Yorn’s All The Beauty
- Mesh’s No Fun At All
- Babygirl’s Stay Here Where It’s Warm(er)
- Steve Blanco’s Misztikus
- ATARASHII GAKKO!’s FROM TOKYO WITH LOVE
- Patrick Droney’s Made You Look
- The Hu’s Hun
- Token’s I’m Leaving Soon
- Jensen McRae’s I Don’t Know How But They Found Me…Again!
- Cody Jinks’ In My Blood (Deluxe)
- Gene Loves Jezebel’s Discover – 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition
- Various Artists’ The Transformers: The Movie: The Soundtrack: The Reformatted Edition
- Desmond Child’s Desmond Child Rocks The Parthenon – The Live Concert Album
- Various Artists’ THE LOST BOYS (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
- Justine Perry & Paula Koski’s Paired Works Double EP
- Rachel Bobbitt’s Where Do You Want To Be? EP
- Kylie Cantrall’s Valley Girl Problems EP
- Samuel Blaney’s Island Rains EP
- Hopsydian’s A Graceful Sin EP
- Portraits Of Tracy’s Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate A: MTV! EP
