#002

I sort of pigeonholed myself into doing IV today, but I'm really glad I did. I can’t shake the feeling that I maybe liked the front half better than the back overall, but maybe it’s a little bit of fatigue from hearing this much unfettered jazz jam in the last two days, the SAD hitting at the onset of the evening, and thinking that one track in particular was just so good it eclipsed the others.

“Time Moves Slow” is maybe my favorite BBNG track period, and as someone who normally enjoys their instrumental work a great deal more than any with vocal accompaniment, it sort of surprises me. As I write this, I’m listening to the album again just to keep it in (and between) my ears, and I’m relishing that I’m only 20 seconds away from hearing it again. Samuel Herring’s amazing soul-crooner-meets-wizened-audio-book-narrator tone imparts this world weariness onto me; I’m looking into the deep emotional wound of someone whom I’ve never met and seeing mutual understanding of that melancholy. You know the one. The slowly galloping drumbeat in the verses and 1… 2… 3 bass-line progression that conjures up visions of a tick… tick… ticking second-hand on a clock is just so evocative to me. It is unbelievably fucking beautiful.

Which leads into “Confessions Pt. II,” the song I’ve heard separate of the album plenty and was the igniting spark for me listening to BBNG again last week. I still LOVE this track and Colin Stetson turning this beautiful brass instrument known the world over into a rambling doomsday crier. “Hyssop of Love” is just an all-around banger and it’s awesome to hear Mick Jenkins on this. Then onto “Lavender,” a song I ultimately think is just alright despite my love for KAYTRANADA, and “Chompy’s Paradise,” another I ultimately think is just okay. But even the tracks I see more as “connective tissue” that simply lead to the stand-out tracks have that wonderful BBC Radiophonic reminiscent, 70’s space-age vision-of-the-future synth sound that makes even the two or three bog standard tracks here something still worth listening to. “And That Too.” showcases it best, I feel.

Despite slow moments I still really like this album. I think “III” might best it in my eyes, but "IV" is still some really enjoyable BBNG.