On UMI’s 2022 debut, Forest in the City, the Seattle-born singer-songwriter’s vibey keys, soothing guitars, and layered harmonies cast a warm glow. Her lyrics, whether about failed relationships or fresh infatuations, have a charming, relatable ease; her laid-back neo-soul feels as soft and refreshing as grass coated in early-morning dew. To tee up her forthcoming sophomore album—and following “wherever u r,” a lovestruck ballad featuring BTS member V last month—UMI put together talking to the wind, a mellow stopgap EP that recalls Forest in the City’s highlights while occasionally branching out into new territory.
UMI balances both bravado and vulnerability in these four succinct love songs. It’s a short EP, with no track stretching past three minutes, but that’s all the time she needs to tease out conflicting emotions. On the seductive highlight “not necessarily,” she turns her attention to a lover lacking in commitment but rich in tempting lust. “She said, ‘Am I in the mood?’” UMI sings in a chatty cadence over new-age pads and a hopscotching triplet beat, playfully capturing the ambivalence of intimacy: “‘Nope, not necessarily/But I could do it for you.’” By the time she beckons to “come here so we can act like a fool,” she sounds more wistful than the come-on might suggest, tapping into the dissonance of wanting someone who’s bad for you. She continues to explore contradictory feelings on the closer “SHOW ME OUT,” a more conventional R&B song that pinpoints a head-spinning moment of reckless love over crisp hi-hats and heavy bass. Its singsong chorus—“Baby, can you show me out?/Buy me things to brag about?”—offers a vision of moneyed romance that her lilting delivery makes sound altogether dreamy.
One of the breezier tracks isn’t as successful. The jaunty, low-key disco strut of opener “why dont we go” grows monotonous even in its brief runtime; for a song about letting go and living your best life, it’s flat and curiously anonymous. UMI sounds better on the fluttering ballad “happy im,” where a fingerpicked guitar line, whistles, and loping drums guide verses sung in both English and Japanese into a free fall toward romance. Though a few lines verge upon being platitudes (“Happy I’m growing with you/Happier knowing it’s you”), she elevates the material with buoyant vocal delivery that recalls Tinashe at her tenderest. When she reaches up to her falsetto in the song’s yearning chorus, it easily replicates the head rush she’s describing.
The EP is over almost as soon as it gets going, yet in little more than 10 minutes, UMI offers plenty of beguiling vocal switch-ups and intriguing wrinkles to her easy-going sound. She’s carving out her own subdued lane, wistful and carefree at once.
