iridescence
Artist: BROCKHAMPTON
Label: RCA Records
Top Tracks: THUG LIFE; WEIGHT; TAPE; DISTRICT
For Fans Of: Frank Ocean; Amine; Injury Reserve
48 minutes
BROCKHAMPTON’s explosion of fame off the back of last year’s Saturation trilogy coupled with the understandable trauma of the whole Ameer situation has clearly weighed on them. This communal stress lends a certain cohesion to the themes explored on this new effort (it gets deep(er)) as well as a certain meticulous and often spectacular daringness in sound derived from a fuck-giving-fatigue (‘TAPE’, ‘WEIGHT’ and the outro on ‘DISTRICT’ are particularly beautiful). Nevertheless, the theme of fame-induced depression teeters on repetitive at times, and a handful of songs or moments sound turbulent to the point of jarring or disorientating. Take ‘HONEY’ for example. The yo-yoing bass spliced with sound effects and weird, low pitched “uhuh-uhuh” vocals is fine, but the switch up, though pretty at first, ends up feeling frustratingly suspended mid-metamorphasis. Joba goes ham throughout the album though.