Ryan Beatty’s “Calico” is an album that seemed to go unheard by many. It has the elements of modern music that listeners gravitated towards in recent years: a nostalgia that churns yearning and introspective narration.

In an age where albums can sometimes feel like a collection of singles stuffed with B-sides that take up space, “Calico” is a true album where songs are woven into each other; to cherry-pick songs is to miss out on the full frame. To know and love “Calico” feels like being in on some innermost secret. While alt-pop artist Ryan Beatty’s return was long-awaited, the arrival of “Calico” felt hushed, only heard by those that cared deeply to listen.

The production – which taps producers from Frank Ocean’s team like Michael Uzowuru, in addition to an appearance by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon — aligns effortlessly with its lyricism.

Released in late April, the album came at the crux of summer hits and pop-infused bops that soundtrack the season. Self-described as a California album, “Calico” is not the endless summer we envision in those late stages of spring. “Calico” is the brightest shade of red in a sunset; it’s the drive back, the ruffling of the firefly-filled grass. It’s everything that you’re feeling but can’t admit. It’s these hallowed innermost feelings that are woven into “Calico.”

Beatty departs from the heavier production that we’ve heard from him in recent years, most notably as a featured artist for the now broken-up Brockhampton. Removed from overproduction, Beatty presents a stripped-down version of himself. This direction is a respite that allows his audience to understand him more clearly while reaching deeper into his musicality. Though the production could be labeled as sparse, synthesizers are well-balanced with a variety of string instruments to amplify an emotive soundscape rather than solely acoustic.

 “Calico” is a lyrical album that relies on figurative language, emblematic of writing that seeks to narrate poetically rather than bend itself to the rules of usual songwriting structures. Beatty doesn’t rely on rhyme patterns, or the traditional verse-to-chorus-to-bridge order to construct his narratives. If anything, the format of a song appears as a container for how Beatty’s work is to be received; poems being performed as songs.

Each track on “Calico” is framed as a vignette that moves across the scenes detailed in the song’s verse. It establishes the cinematic nature of “Calico” as a written montage. There are curated scenes across the desert, travels with a partner and moving between homes.

In an Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, Beatty remarked that “Calico” was written over the course of two years. The pensive period comes through in the thoughtfulness of Beatty’s narration. We encounter someone trying to make sense of things falling apart. While this is an album of someone looking back into their past, you can imagine it as someone in their future reminiscing about what has occurred.

“Andromeda” juxtaposes between the past and present. “Ribbons” is structured as flashbacks moving through different life events in the aftermath of loss. Such time markers aid in framing the aspects of a lyrical montage that is presented in “Calico.” Lyrics start in the past tense to set the past as a present notion, then moves into the present to ruminate over the past, ending with a future that is re-telling a lifetime of events.

The stories of “Calico” aren’t always in chronological order. This is a world where time is non-linear and enmeshed together. Beatty chooses his starting point at the story’s most important stage irrespective of where it is in the story. It allows us to see loss as it unfolds in the moment, into detangling the enduring threads of grief and an acceptance without answers.

The album was carefully crafted with intention. The emotions expressed in this album are the kind you must dig within yourself to find. In combination with the production, “Calico” is a melodic masterpiece; it’s an introspective dreamscape where vivid images become montages. Even though it flew under the radar, Ryan Beatty’s “Calico” is a hallmark album of 2023.

Suzanne Bagia can be reached at [email protected].