Album Reviews:

CASE STUDY 01, Daniel Caesar (Golden Child Recordings, June 2019)

Love’s Last Chance, Taylor McFerrin (FromHereEntertainment, August 2019)

These two albums took a hold of me recently. Daniel Caesar’s CASE STUDY 01 is a powerful album, rich with well-crafted songs, minimalist production, and Caesar’s distinctive vocal performance. Taylor McFerrin’s Love’s Last Chance is a marvel of songwriting, sprinkled with electronic production that evokes the work of Flying Lotus a.k.a Steven Ellison. Ellison’s Brainfeeder label put out Mcferrin’s debut album, Early Riser (Brainfeeder, 2014) so the influence is happily expected.

Both are sophomore albums and both are from young male R&B vocalists who have distinguished themselves stylistically with their production choices. A Yin and Yang if you will, of modern urban music: Caesar with an acoustic sensibility, McFerrin an electronic one, both uncompromising in their songwriting.

McFerrin’s “Now that you need me” features multiple synth sounds, beats, and vocal effects that electrify the vibe while the melody and soul of the song keep it grounded. Caesar’s “Too deep to turn back” is simultaneously an acoustic sing-along, a sullen ballad, and just plain beautiful. These two tracks are the most striking examples of what characterizes each album but there is of course, a spectrum within each.

I think that’s why these albums appealed to me as a pair, rather than individually. They swirl around together, not quite dissolving into one another but playing off their differences, elevating each other.