nao: for all we know

so, i enjoyed her ep last year, very texturally interesting and layered r&b, but the album is... way better. like...album of the year maybe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07VR9Twdt8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuocmqLRgOM

I'm on my 4th listen today. Keeps getting better on each pass.

yeah she really went in on this album wow. agree with brad that the album is a significant step up from the relatively faceless EP. i heard good reports from her set at pitchfork too

glad there's a thread about this album
Been listening all day and I agree that it's a big leap from the (already nice) EP. Her singing has dramatically improved too!

i need to spend more time w/this, but i like it on first listen

I think this album is awesome, even though rtc is definitely otm about it being heliumballoonageorge

heliumballoonageorge

thrilled that this portmaneau exists

it's otm but i've never liked alunageorge songs this much, and i think it's bc it's not just her voice moving through unstable bass architecture but complicating it with actual boogie/electro rhythms. may be selling aluna short here bc i've only heard their singles (their recent ones are v good tho)

this is good

album has more in common w/ maybe something like tinashe's aquarius or even the internet's ego death to me than alunageorge. that comparison i think can only extend as far as the vocal tone

yah this is totally in Tinashe's yard

aquarius was the first record i thought of actually. ego death is an even better comparison

as i said in the r&b thread the way these songs are arranged reminds me a little of maxwell's now, particularly "temporary nite"

still not really feeling it after a few listens apart from "in the morning". it's just kinda pleasant. aquarius and maxwell comparisons are overselling it even by ilm standards

A comparison isn't overselling or even selling. The album isn't great.

I agree with the first part and disagree with the second

lol

I can't seem to stop listening to "Girlfriend." The way the chorus comes in on the 2 just nails me to the wall. Especially the second half where she sings "flyyyyyyyyyyyy" with all those layered harmonies.

I might not need another song for the rest of the year.

perfect album to relisten to just when you think AOTY contenders are settled

It's good not great – I should have said year end lists.

This sounds nice, but also kinda not special in any way. ¯\(ツ)/¯

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRCQ24V8eO8

fuck that imo

new album shaping up to be great from the singles

oh this is out today too isn't it

incredibly stacked day

her first album was super underrated so looking forward to listening to this

this has less of the heavily processed funk & wonky beats that i loved from For All We Know unfortunately

it's still quite enjoyable with solid songwriting but it doesn't feel as distinctive or as interesting as her debut

this has less of the heavily processed funk & wonky beats that i loved from For All We Know unfortunately

this is true! less of that liquid synth thing a lot more traditional and self-serious ("orbit" being patient zero here)

it still largely bangs, just kinda wish more of it resembled "drive and disconnect"

i like when this gets kinda neo-soulish... "saturn" in particular, which reminds me of the KING album

relatedly i've been playing this a lot recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1jW-xJlIA8

initial reaction is that I need to knock off bothering with listening to so many pre-album singles ... like I've heard the best of this already, like the first two tracks. Those are completely massive

I think I will prefer Saturn to For All We Know. On first play, of the songs not previously shared I particularly enjoyed "Gabriel" and "A Life Like This".

something about her music keeps me at a bit of a distance but this is a good album. warm, inviting & compulsively playable.

aside from "drive & disconnect" and "if you ever" i think i like the ballads -- another lifetime, saturn and orbit -- the most

this record is absolutely fantastic, although i want it known that i hate the bit in "make it out alive" where she sings "colours change, blue grass like the lumineers"

the title track, "orbit", "drive & disconnect" all wonderful

Orbit is my fave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-GX9bpT3MI

new single is afrobeats and it's very good!

no small thanks to Adekunle Gold, I’d say

(and producer Sarz)

brb crossposting it on the Afropop thread