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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Tiny Mix Tapes

soil is a crucial psalm; crucial for its queerness, crucial for its catholicism, its pagan roots protruding into sidewalks, crucial for its purity of heart, crucial for how it avoids imperative.

100
musicOMH

There is a case to be made for soil, the debut album by serpentwithfeet, to be sensibly understood as seminal before even being granted the benefit of hindsight. It’s incredibly rare that a creative talent of this magnitude arrives at all. It‘s astounding that they would also succeed in presenting a vision of such striking lucidity across their first major work.

100
PopMatters
The album is a visionary statement of arrival, a potent and singular masterpiece that exposes the deepest chambers of a fiercely beating heart with a singular purity of focus. It's a mesmerizing journey of self-actualization in an era when constant connection makes that all the more difficult.
90
Clash

Sharing his wisdom, serpentwithfeet teaches us to be ourselves, to endure and be happy and love each other, and it’s rare to hear these simple, well-known things being delivered with a power and strength that can transcend the medium of music itself, turning it into a pure magic.

82
GIGsoup
Drawing upon industrial pop and ethereal R&B, serpentwithfeets's music may induce listeners to revel in the artist's musical prowess even as they blush at the album's pervasive intimacy.
81
Pitchfork

With soil, serpentwithfeet deeply engages with the complex membranes between the self and a loved one, the self and the world. Few albums attempt this much nuance in articulating love; Wise’s success in his ambitions feels like a gift.

80
AllMusic

It's this need to share so much of himself -- with his listeners as well as the ones he loves -- that makes Serpentwithfeet's music so compelling, and Soil captures a passionate, complex artist coming into his own.

80
Under the Radar
That he's prepared to drift off into erotic and spiritual imagery, laying himself bare in such a vulnerable and emotive way is one of the delights of the year.
80
The 405

soil is an album that delves into the dirt of passion, be that artistic, romantic or religious. For every moment of ecstatic energy there’s another equal moment of debilitating disappointment, for every igniting of love, there’s wilting relationships. It’s a deeply personal album, but one that is often relatable.

80
DIY
A celebration of finally having found his feet.
80
Resident Advisor

Since his 2016 EP, blisters, Wise has evolved from histrionic oversharer to keen songwriter with a sharp wit. On his debut album, soil, those qualities bloom on tightly written pop songs that probe his innermost fears, neuroses, queer insecurities and desires.

80
The Observer
It is, at its heart, an album about love: the intimacy of it, the rapture of it, the loss of it.
80
Crack Magazine

For soil, serpentwithfeet creates a baroque sound palette to match his intricate tales of love and loss.

75
Northern Transmissions
For the boundary-pushing record from Serpentwithfeet, an unusual instrument set creates a framework for truly powerful pop. This said, the writing will really divide listeners in its rule-breaking and expectation subverting moments.
70
Spectrum Culture

soil is the gospel/R&B blend with enough space-age imagery and hallucinatory asides that both Young Fathers and TV on the Radio would dance in approval.

70
The Needle Drop

serpentwithfeet's debut album adeptly presents love in a simultaneously sweet and unsettling light, only occasionally being held back by some uneventful instrumentals.

70
Rolling Stone
Serpentwithfeet's influences make him dangerously cool and impossibly contemporary.
70
Exclaim!

Overall, soil is a courageous effort where serpentwithfeet's bravery pays off.

itsyahboinoah
85

This album is in a whole other planet of its eccentricity and freakish nature.

LepardRyan
80

To describe this album in one word: annoying. I can't stop coming back to it and I'm constantly humming the choruses. It's a stupid earworm of an album but I just can't help but love it. Don't check this out if you're in the slightest irritated mood.

MAN
55

Nice stuff in here.

bandruk
80

beautifully expressive experimental r&b that leave a lasting impact long after its first listen

GusCreter
86

Now I love this record. I listened to it all the time when it came out and kind of fell off of it for a while, but every time I revisit, I'm thoroughly impressed by the song concepts and excellent vocal control.

Jlepileo03
77

A really good R&B album that's a little rough around the edges.

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Track List

1whisper
4:21
86
2messy
3:31
91
3wrong tree
3:43
76
4fragrant
3:14
81
5mourning song
3:19
84
6cherubim
3:38
88
7seedless
3:29
77
8invoice
4:01
81
9waft
2:48
73
10slow syrup
3:20
74
11bless ur heart
4:23
86
Total Length: 39 minutes
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Added on: March 7, 2018