4 Your Eyez Only Review

The conceit only reveals itself at the end, which is either the record's masterstroke or the reason nobody replays it, and honestly it is both. He spends most of the album inhabiting another man, a small time dealer who knows how this ends, and the writing in that voice is careful and unshowy and completely without the self regard that dogs his other work.

The strings and live bass are a real departure, muted and jazz inflected, and the mood never lifts once across forty five minutes. Neighbors is the sharpest thing here, a true story about a police raid told with cold restraint. The title track ties the knot and it genuinely moves. What it lacks is any moment of relief, so admiration comes easily and reaching for it does not. As a piece of construction it is the best thing he has done. As a record to live with it asks a lot.