Aquaria

In this bubbling cauldron that refuses to be contained, Asher finds the liberation he’s been searching for.

Despite its depth of ideas and imagery, AQUARIA starts to feel a little thematically one-dimensional until you get to 'Only', a straight ahead piano-driven, introspective slow jam.

The narratives of each song are fractured and inconclusive, but Aquaria elapses as an album with a sustained atmosphere of dread, determination and experiment.

What he delivers doesn't disappoint, and it's a tantalising glimpse into where R&B might be heading in 2016.

It’s an album full of musical precision and technical achievements that ultimately reveals Boots to be exactly who he is: Jordan Asher, a prodigy producer eager to find his own voice.

It privileges technique and texture over hooks, but as a pitch to be the next Danger Mouse, Aquaria is not a bad one. [Jan 2016, p.73]

His debut LP has tunes aplenty, though he toys with them, unwilling to commit to on sound, still less one hook, when he can duck behind twitchy beats, fleeting effects or double-tracked vocals. [Jan 2016, p.108]

This guy is less interested in building his resume than pinning down his own dark artistic impulses on his own terms.

For now, it's likeable despite feeling a little too aimless.

He certainly has the production skills to create unusual pop, but Asher’s vocals are often outmoded--the stoned rap style of Bran Van 3000 lurks within the juddering, alien basslines.

AQUΛRIA is an interesting, risky record, but too often it confirms the notion that Boots’ development in the booth lags behind his touch on the mixing console.

The problem is, these impressive production techniques are in greater abundance than actual tunes. With clever tricks rather than pop hooks, expressionistic (and often mumbled) lyrics and a lack of relatable themes, Aquaria can feel cold and self-involved.

It's over-reliance on Nine Inch Nails atmospherics and Boots's far from distinctive Bowie-lite croon could benefit from further tweaking. [Dec 2015, p.92]

The album feels just pop enough in intention that its pleasures seem noticeably absent; with a few strong exceptions, the album could be a folder of songs waiting for someone else to bring them to life.

While AQUARIA is uniquely Asher’s and probably unlike anything else you’ll hear this year--a mix of heavy, grinding industrial beats and quick, nimble lyrics that whiz by like the view of the landscape from a train window--the truth buried at the bottom of the bass drop is that Asher himself isn’t yet magnetic enough to make his own material shine.