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I'll give this a 70 because this man is a true musician and vocalist - these songs are perfectly well crafted and well done. Technical skills, however, do not a forward-thinking album make. This record doesn't really innovate on all the sources he's pulling from. Most of the time it sounds like leftover B-sides from Silk Sonic that would do well with sync placements. Is it bad? Not in the slightest. But does it move me? Not really. Shout out to "Risk It All", though - a ... read more

Hilary has never delivered forward-thinking music - this adds to her brand as the girl next door, she's always relatable and palatable. What she is doing in this album for the first time, however, is giving us *her* perspective. Sonically, the album is extremely referential (Gotye, The 1975, Koma's own Winnetka Bowling League, etc.) - but in a way, that is the point: it tells us more about who Hilary is. Despite some misses (i.e. life is lifing), the album's lyricism is overall ... read more

As an entire project, there are some spots that feel overdone and repetitive. However, as a showcase of productions and sonic design, this album is incredible. I find the choice of making the vocals barely understandable a little frustrating, though it seems like a conscious artistic choice (need to dig into the lyrical content, to be fair). All that said, I have at least half this album on my repeat playlist. I love a lot of the melodic choices. The production sounds forward-thinking in a ... read more

Been meaning to sit down with this album properly and today was finally the day. This feels like art made out of necessity. The textures and sound design choices all over this were so good - so warm and raw and comforting. His voice feels like a hug throughout this entire record, even though he's the one suffering. I'll be returning to this one often