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Sep 19, 2019On Jimmy Lee, Saadiq shout-sings, whispers, and croons with new abandon. It feels like a refutation of his old reserve, and it also represents a welcome stretch from Saadiq before he takes his sound all the way back to his beginnings.
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Sep 3, 2019Saadiq puts his artistic skills to use in full, reaching new emotional and technical heights while delving into heartbreaking lows. Jimmy Lee shows why, even though he so often stays behind the scenes these days, his is one of the most compelling voices in modern-day soul music.
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Aug 30, 2019The brothers and sisters in arms, longtime partners (Thomas McElroy, Taura Stinson) and new associates (Brook D'Leau, Daniel Crawford) alike, play in service to the vision of one eminent artist, helping him convert grief to artistic brilliance.
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Q MagazineAug 27, 2019A dark album for darker times--at 53, Saadiq is still ahead of the curve. [Oct 2019, p.110]
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Aug 26, 2019His subject matter is explicit and personal, the album a song cycle brimming with ghosts – four siblings who died tragically young. ... He narrators in these songs are more like a collection of lost voices, including that of Saadiq himself.
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Aug 26, 2019Saadiq has clearly turned a corner into an unpredictable headspace. His new edge, combined with his prodigious production and instrumental chops, bodes well as far as what might come next. And there’s a certain thrill in not knowing how much more outlandish his next move might be.
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Aug 26, 2019It feels like he’s aiming for a 21st-century version of classic albums such as Sign ‘O’ the Times and What’s Going On and, on astonishing, soul-scraping laments This World Is Drunk and Kings Fall, he almost gets there.
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Aug 26, 2019He did it to make a point, and to make an impact. And as personal as the album may be at times, it’s also an uplifting and universal take for anyone who’s experienced life with a troubled loved one.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 31 out of 51
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Mixed: 3 out of 51
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Negative: 17 out of 51
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Aug 26, 2019Quite simply, the best album since "Black Messiah" and "Blackstar" dropped in late '15/early '16
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Aug 27, 2019
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Sep 10, 2019One of the best albums I have ever heard. Don't know why people didn't like it much.