Invite the Light

Invite The Light is determinedly adventurous. [Dec 2015, p.46]

Invite the Light should be regarded as a triumph, a neo-funk gem which stays true to Dâm-Funk’s vision, without alienating those who’re arriving fresh to the party.

Substantial enough to require three pieces of vinyl (the CD version is a single disc with three fewer tracks), it's more outward-looking than Toeachizown, not only through its dizzying and multigenerational list of collaborators, but also through Riddick's increased ability and confidence as a vocalist who promotes positivity, whether it's blissful escape or strong-willed perseverance.

Invite The Light stays true to the hallmarks of Dam Funk's sound; winning formulas never need much adjustment.

Invite The Light reaffirms that Dam-Funk needn't coast on others' charisma when his music has more than enough of its own. [Oct 2015, p.104]

While Riddick doesn't boast the vocal chops of his heroes, telling interventions from Q-Tip, Leon Sylvers III and The Doggfather himself flesh out his questing intergalactic creations with charm to spare. [Oct 2015, p.89]

It's excellent stuff. [Oct 2015, p.75]

At its best, Invite the Light manages to bring together Dâm-Funk’s wilder, more experimental side with his newly refined pop side to produce not just some of the strongest material he’s ever made, but some of the strongest material to arise out of the current funk boom.

Few producers in the game boast similar originality and creativity, which makes Invite the Light a refreshing new album for 2015 and beyond.

Invite the Light is perfect for those times when you need gentle inspiration for cracking open the blinds and facing the world, but the album’s lithium-like vibes are more stabilizing than invigorating.

As it stands, it’s a very good approximation of a very specific sound and furthers Dâm-Funk’s reputation and worthiness of his chosen sobriquet.

The theme of perseverance resonates strongly on the album, and the imperfections and vulnerabilities in his vocals help to encapsulate the artistic progression.

As one should expect from a Dam-Funk album, Invite the Light is richly musical and absorbingly singular.

Ear-catching cameos from Snoop, Ariel Pink and Ohio Player Walter “Junie” Morrison can’t allay concerns that Riddick lacks the star quality that separates the game changer from the journeyman.

On Invite the Light, funk remains not only Dam-Funk’s backbone, but his beating heart, his brain, his codpiece.

The squelchy synths and intergalactic funk of the record's first half stand tall, but at 20 tracks long, it becomes a tad tiresome at the halfway mark.