Review Summary: Wonder Why He Leapt.
SBTRKT is awesome. From his early EP work to his A+ debut album, he’s consistently been able to merge pop music with more other-there influences like UK bass, garage and dubstep. He, along with James Blake (who’s been name dropped in approximately 98% of my reviews for good reason), were essentially the founders of the “post-dubstep” subgenre which has been the sonic breeding ground for artists like FKA twigs, Tinashe and Arca.
But the last few years have been a bit rough for Aaron Jerome, the man behind the mask. In the time since SBTRKT’s momentous 2011 debut, Jerome has released a live album that was both critically and commercially unsuccessful and had his brother die. Both of these events (one obviously more than the other) have colored SBTRKT’s newest output with him lighting out into new territory, hoping to find meaning. And that’s more or less conveyed in the album’s title: Jerome has decided to jump off the cliff, hoping to get to someplace different. This recklessness and restless curiosity has carried over into the music itself, making for a somewhat inconsistent yet all around solid project.
One of the best and most promising things about this album is that, in terms of guests, it doesn’t stray too far from the debut. Sampha, a de facto member of SBTRKT at this point, shows up for four times on this album (just like the last one), and Jessie Ware shows up too. Their contributions are some of the best SBTRKT has produced, instilling seduction, anxiety and other raw emotions into a panoramic emotional palette. Sampha, in particular, does an amazing job on this LP, proving himself to be integral to SBTRKT as an artistic endeavor. The new additions to the pantheon are generally nothing to write home about, but the songs featuring Caroline Polachek, Raury and Koreless are sterling. The other features (Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Denai Moore and A$AP Ferg) play their roles well, but add nothing to the album outside of marketability (your fav is surely on here, right?!)
In terms of sonics, though, SBTRKT has a bit of a struggle with this album. On songs like the title track, “Look Away,” and “Problem [Solved],” the instrumentals are stunning, rivaling any and everything off of his debut. The distorted guitars of “Look Away” are maddeningly seductive; the tremulous piano on “Wonder Where We Land” is languid in just the right kind of way. When the pieces fall together with SBTRKT, his songs are immaculate, bringing with them a pop-sensibility and experimental edge that no other artist could even hope to emulate. The problem comes when the pieces don’t fall together right. The problem with many of these tracks is that when there’s something wrong, it’s an integral element that functionally ruins a track. Ezra Koenig’s joke of a feature on “New Dorp. New York” ruins what would otherwise be a nice throwback hip-hop instrumental. “The Light” with Denai Moore is inches from being a great track, but it overstays its welcome without any major progression. Even while not being the longest track here, it feels like it.
Another issue with this LP is the sequencing. By virtue of the tracklisting, there are enormous mood shifts that make it feel more like a collection of B-sides and singles than a cohesive album. Take, for instance, the transition between Day 5, a small tidbit of morbid churchbells, flows into the vivacious “Look Away.” There’s a huge mood shift here. On “Problem (Solved)” there’s a small bit of electronic pensiveness at the beginning before giving way to the more analog pianos of the actual track. These shifts make it hard to see what Jerome was aiming for. Another question left is the whole point of the concept. While I understand why he’s trying to experiment, what I don’t understand are the “Days” (Jerome’s literally got tracks for Days) and the whole conceptual narrative that’s being painted. The actual lyrics to these songs give no clear indication either, with the subject matter ranging from living in New York (guess the track, I dare you), to lovers’ communication. There’s no clear narrative here, and the opacity of it kills the album’s flow.
But all of this doesn’t quite matter as much to me. What SBTRKT’s trying to do here is quite admirable, and the fact that the slump between his debut and this album is quite small is itself a miracle. While his ventures into the world of experimental electronic are far less potent here than they were on “SBTRKT” or even “Transitions,” Jerome has still managed to craft an enjoyable album here. He’ll just have to remember to thank Sampha for that.
