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It takes more than deep breaths and steady pitch to be a great singer.
But the voices that make it into the national consciousness are vehicles for peculiar tones and personalities.
Two of musics most singular voices released new albums this month.
James Blakes career trajectory feels like a coup.
His voice was disembodied and angelic; his production warped, layered, and digitized it to abstraction.
The result was a little inviting and a little chilly, like a robot glee club singing church hymns.
Blakes obfuscations were deliberate.
He lives in Los Angeles now.
Hes in a relationship and happy to gush about it.
Blakes writing more directly now.
His ace concern is how to be a more attentive lover.
The albums instincts are noble, but the execution isnt always as strong as the convictions.
The melodies and arrangements are drippy in ways that work both for and against Blake.
Tell Them, Barefoot in the Park, and Wheres the Catch?
Elsewhere,Assume Formfeels like eavesdropping on a conversation between lovers in public.
Ill Come Too is giddy boyfriend pillow talk that imagines what doo-wop might sound like with trap drums.
(Spoiler: cheesy.)
Power On is about ditching friends for more alone time.
Lullaby for My Insomniac is Blake quite literally singing his significant other to sleep.
Its a bit cloying and intense, all wedding vows and no reception.
Futures kingdom is perched on relatable oversharing.
Theyre intense because Futures past is knotty.
You never know what youre in for when you press play on a new release.
You might get a passive-aggressive breakup song (Throw Away, My Collection).
The WIZRDis a spiritual successor toFUTUREandHNDRXX.
Released a week apart two winters ago,FUTUREandHNDRXXpresented the rapper as a fighter and a lover.
The formers hard knocks and sneering boasts balanced the latters hunger for a partner to share a life with.
(FUTURE/HNDRXXwas daring mythmaking.
)The WIZRDbalancesFUTUREs gruff kingpin talk andHNDRXXs yearning.
Overdose gets away with rhyming drugs with drugs eight times in a row thanks to the performers unbridled energy.
F&N makes a case for Future as a legitimately great rhymer.
There are guests, but theyre afterthoughts.
Future is the total package.
Assume FormandThe WIZRDare both vehicles for unorthodox singers to show their wares.
James Blake is dealing by writing exclusively to and for the person who matters to him the most.
Its soupy and a little goofy if youre not.
Blakes still growing as a writer.
Future hit a sweet spot on the road toDS2and hasnt stopped crushing homers since.
