Top Five Records

The foundation of this album is very solid post-punk. It is textured music that holds a very strong baseline of quality. There are a few moments here that are exceptional however. The atonality of “Happy For You” fascinates and works so well with the tone of the album. “Tongue” brings in some very interesting tricks from modern rap. “Demolition” goes.

I do wish that there were more strong moments but there is also never a weak moment and the album’s singular tone does really well for it, even if I think you have to be Irish for it to truly resonate.

It is very tough, when making this style of R&B, to walk the line between interesting and relaxing. Jhene Aiko does not. The album is undeniably relaxing. Jhene Aiko is warm. Her music helps unclench. It can even sparkle. However, it is far too easy for it to fade far into the background and once it does, it stays there.

You might notice the few switches it tries. Kendrick is a decent change of pace and Ab-Soul and Tyga also do something a little different from the rest of the album, but there is no real reason to pay attention to this album. It never falls below a fairly high quality level, but it quickly becomes ambient music and never does anything more.