What a Time to Be Alive Review

The speed is the charm and the flaw. Made in less than a week, it has no structure, no concept and no ambition beyond making a lot of noise with the best producer of the moment, and for about twenty five minutes that is entirely enough. Jumpman is the obvious survivor, a beat made of three sounds and a hook that will outlive everyone involved.

Big Rings is dumb and enormous. Diamonds Dancing is the one that reveals the imbalance, because one voice sounds like it lives inside these beats and the other sounds like it is doing an impression of living there. Digital Dash and Scholarships are strong. The last three tracks are solo cuts that should have been left off. As a document of a specific autumn it is perfect. As an album it is a happy accident that nobody involved has ever managed to repeat.