Giveon
spent three years making
Beloved
, or half the amount of time he laments squandering on a failed romance in "Twenties." Adorned with strings, horns, and
Jeff "Gitty" Gitelman
's weeping sitar, the ballad set the album's tone, both lyrically and sonically, as the lead single.
is filled with many other dramatic, tear-stained expressions of regret, frustration, and heartache. Although it isn't an out-and-out throwback, it draws substantially from the '70s, most evidently the grand sweep of Philly soul and the driving rhythms and punching horns of Memphis'
Hi Records
, less so from maestros such as
Barry White
and
Isaac Hayes
. This isn't play-acting with a wholesale stylistic makeover. On the contrary, the likes of
Sevn Thomas
,
Jahaan Sweet
, and
Maneesh Bidaye
remain part of
's songwriting and production cohort, and though the lyrics are sometimes general, more often they seem as specific to
as his deep and graceful baritone. "Thought I was learning myself, I was just learning you/Is anything black and white when you're barely 22?," from "Twenties," sums up the sense of slight disorientation and philosophical reasoning that fuels the album. The imagery is most vivid when
is either laying himself bare or articulating suspicion. In the very Memphian "Rather Be," he can barely entertain the thought of starting over as he clings to the past, "dancing to all the songs that you love, all alone -- lost in the dark 'cause you stole the sun." He works himself into a lather on "Backup Plan," what plays out like a smudged, extended, and downcast coda to
' version of "The Look of Love," sensing emotional distance from his woman as evidence that his replacement is waiting in the wings. Only one song, the penultimate "Avalanche," captures a moment before it went sour. Even in that bright moment, the mix is dense with a hint of looming threat, enticing like an approaching storm.
might view his six-year relationship as misspent, but there's no second-guessing the time he devoted to converting it into art. ~ Andy Kellman