Even at a mere 30-minute runtime, awE naturalE is a rich, challenging listen in most every respect.
It’s a sunshine-soaked odyssey through neo-soul and abstract rap, an excursion that is never disconcerting and never less than devilishly satisfying.
The distorted piano and vocal loops and simple drum patterns do tend to bleed into each other, and the songs run on the short side, but together they’re a mesmerizing set.
This is a record that shows immense promise, a record whose trancelike rhythms wash over you
awE naturalE, like Black Up, is a pleasantly surprising resurrection of the Pacific Northwest-via-Brooklyn hippie-hop that we never might have anticipated a few years ago.
It’s a romp of fearless experimentation, which leaves you curious as to what THEESatisfaction’s new take on soul can offer in the future.
Disgracefully brief, awE naturalE comes on like a fierce, warm wave and ebbs away before you can even figure out how which way round the surfboard goes.
For what is essentially a debut showing, Irons and Harris-White certainly don’t want to get in our way.
Smooth, cool beats & performances, lot of Afro-futurist eccentricities, but the short run-time and inconsistent song structures make this a great blueprint for future works rather than a great album.
#20 | / | AllMusic |
#26 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#27 | / | Piccadilly Records |
#49 | / | Gorilla vs. Bear |
#50 | / | The Needle Drop |
#60 | / | Crack Magazine |