This is an album for long walks at sunrise. It’s a love song spread across 14 tracks of smooth electric piano, 50’s era samples, and a crooning rap style that’s as thick and sweet as molasses. It took my preconceptions about what hip-hop albums should sound like, and flipped them on their head. It’s hip-hop in a barrel of acid sent down a waterfall to churn into a lovely psychedelic song soup.
Instead of a steady background of kicks and bass, there’s twinkling keys, endless synth pads, and chunks of samples that rarely go even half the length of the song. The rest is just beautiful space. Instead of spiked, rhythmic lyrics, it effortlessly shifts between rhyming and singing. Between interludes like “If You Know” and “Memory Theme” are songs about love’s questions, still unanswered.
Most of the album flows together in this way, with the exception of the speed-ride “Familiar Faces, Names & Colors”. Otherwise, snares are scarce, and instruments ebb in and out frequently. I wish I could tell, outside of a few obvious samples, what parts of the backing tracks are being played by the artist. The keys and guitars fit well, while samples on songs like “Needed A Heart” give it a nice melodic boost.
An altogether enjoyable and dreamy ride. Whatever I expected when I first started listening, it certainly wasn’t where I ended up.