Joint Beauty is an up-and-coming producer from Fukuoka, Japan. At just the age of twenty, he’s now joined up with Canadian label URBNET to drop his debut album, Melty.

Joint Beauty might be young, but he has been studying piano for the last ten years, which he combines with a more recent crash course in hip hop production to create this album. On the production side of things, he cites influences such as Dilla, Dibia$e, and Elaquent, and Aru-2. These are all excellent people to look up to, of course, but when you listen to Melty, there is just a good chunk of the album that sounds like any young producer still figuring things out. That is to say that a large portion of this album is full of pretty downtempo beats and chopped and flipped samples which sound fine and are enjoyable in the moment, but don’t really stand out or remain memorable after you’re done listening to the album. However, there are two key parts of the album that do hint at Joint Beauty’s future, and how he might distinguish himself from the crowd. One is his skills as a pianist. Joint Beauty has a really gentle touch with the keys and a natural inclination towards some really beautiful and distinct melodies that pair well with his beats. The other is when he leans more towards some 8-bit and synth-based production. There’s something about working in this style that forces him outside of any sort of comfort zone or predictability that draws you in as a listener, wondering what will happen next.

While there are some bumps and bruises and a bit of a learning curve with Joint Beauty’s debut album, that’s to be expected. Few instrumental artists are able to figure it out that quickly. The good news is that he shows some clear potential as well, and you can see how he might improve in the future if he keeps at it. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here.