Review Summary: Am I still one of the good ones?
George Watsky has been through the mill. His evolution from high school beat poet, to viral star a la
Pale Kid Raps Fast, all the way to globetrotting rapper / performing artist has been genuinely astounding and interesting to follow. He boasts some very credible studio albums with guest features from the likes of Kate Nash, Wax & Anderson Paak. Couple these with worldwide tours, and you’ve got yourself one of the most hardworking & active artists working in his space of groovy, accessible rap music.
2019 has brought us his latest studio offering,
Complaint. Before release, Watsky claimed on social media that this was his most heartfelt and personal album to date. He also pointed to the fact that it’s intentionally short, citing a conscious effort to keep it concise and sharp.
There is no denying that this is a personal album, nor that
Complaint has suffered from a lack of care and attention. The project has nods towards mental health issues, and also chronicles the start of a blossoming relationship all the way towards the end of an abusive one. Watsky writes about having a crush on someone in
All Like Whatever, and moves on to leaving an alcoholic in
Mean Ass Drunk. Towards the end of the CD,
Whitecaps is a wonderfully tender cut exploring relationships in a broader sense, asking if our upbringings can affect our chances of finding love in the future. It’s a much darker outlook than any previous offerings, and it shows.
There is also no complaints about the production on this CD. Each song, when taken out of context of the album, sounds unbelievably crisp and cared for. The bass grooves are thick and addictive on the lighter tracks, such as the opener
Welcome to the Family and
No Complaints, No Conversation. There’s a great rock-influenced track,
Feels Alright, which is bombastic and gritty. For the most part during
Complaint, nothing ever gets lost in the background, which is a tremendous feat for an album that has so much going on sonically.
Unfortunately however,
Complaint suffers with a terminal identity crisis, which is a huge shame. Putting the production and the lyrical content to one side for a second exposes this album as a mish-mash of past ideas, and stylistic stumbling blocks in the present. The first two tracks sound like they could come straight off of 2013’s
Cardboard Castles, with gang choruses and off the wall keyboard passages included.
Mean Ass Drunk and
No Complaints, No Conversation sound like they would be at home on Watskys
All You Can Do, a compendium of self-referential stabs and sharp-edged deprecation.
In addition, the third and fourth tracks here stick out like a sore thumb –
*** It Up &
What Goes Up are soaked in auto tune and have no real direction – they just sort of fumble themselves along until they finish. Watsky himself has claimed that not everybody will enjoy the auto-tune passages on this record, but they sounded good to him when he recorded them, which is worth bearing in mind.
Limo 4 Emos is an interesting listen due to its almost soul-like ballad quality that shines through, but its position in the track-listing means that you may well have turned off by this point.
This blatant weaving between styles that work and styles that don’t is really this albums Achilles heel. It may even not be an issue for some people, and that’s great. But for most people searching for a cohesive and balanced record,
Complaint will struggle to strike a chord, and even most Watsky fans will find themselves reverting back to his back catalogue.
It’s a huge shame, because the content here really deserved more focus – however George Watsky won’t be finished here, and it will be a pleasure to continue following this hard working artist to wherever he goes next.
