Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

8.6

With just her brother Finneas on production, 17-year-old sensation Billie Eilish manages to surpass common critics and stereotypes to come up with a debut album which is a fantastic exploration and depiction of how it feel to be young, depressed and fulled with existential angst against the world and its people. The bassy, magnetic beats melt with the singer's whispery, heavily-manipulated, demonic vocals in pretty original and diverse ways, making the record both an entertaining experience and a constant, ever-growing adventure. Moreover, it feels the perfect artistic statement for a star on the rise.

Highlights

- The production is otherworldly, thick and thoroughly crafted.

- Billie's voice is a gravitational force on its own, going up and down with every emotion.

- There's an amazing sense of cohesion connecting the songs and topics altogether.

Lowlights

- Some tracks overuse space and melancholy a bit (especially on the second half).

Standouts

- bad guy

- xanny

- my strange addiction

Country: USA

Released: March 29, 2019

Length: 42:56

Solange - When I Get Home

8.8

With When I Get Home, Solange reaffirms her unbeatable ability to concoct effortlessly sequenced tracks that seem like a whole long song while still sharing varied layers and moods altogether. Not only that, but she cements herself as an unstoppable force redefining soul and crafting galactic production that plays with ambient and stoic repetition. More of a complement of than a contraposition to her previous magnum opus, the album lulls with the universal and the sensual in a work of art that transcends and awes from beginning to end relentlessly.

Highlights

- The stellar production team, in love with tiny details, delirious moods and constant magic.

- Solange's voice, as deadpan as savvy, offering just as much as it wants to and no more.

- The sequence the songs hold is a feature few other artists can show off.

Lowlights

- The use of repetition does have a purpose, but it gets excessive at certain parts.

- The majority of the tracks seem like interludes or mini-songs. While they find ways to grab power and substance, one is left wanting for even more.

Standouts

- Almeda

- Down With The Clique

- Binz

Country: USA

Released: March 1, 2019

Length: 39:02

Dawn Richard - New Breed

7.8

Dawn delivers an effortlessly whimsical record that pays homage to her hometown New Orleans, her newly re-found empowerment, her blackability and her unquestionable desire and knack for woozy R&B. It's a subtle triumph for both heart and pace.

Highlights

- The tracks flow wonderfully from each other, making up for a tight concept record.

- Dawn's muscular voice that mumbles and drops whenever she pleases to.

- Tacky production mixed with solid themes and topics.

Lowlights

- At first glances, some tracks may not seem to have an impactful development.

- I would have personally have all the voiced interludes as separate tracks, so that they can flow on the album but let the proper songs be enjoyed without them, just as in "A Seat At The Table" by Solange.

Standouts

- shades

- vultures | wolves

- jealousy

Country: USA

Released: January 25, 2019

Length: 32:32

Toro Y Moi - Outer Peace

6.3

This is the perfect example of a roller-coaster made album, not precisely for the variety of emotions but for the weird feelings it gets you going: the first tracks nail it, the middle is a chaotic mess, the songs that follow try to help but the closing ones are terrible.

Highlights

- When it gets groovy, it's impossible to stop dancing around.

- There's simplicity here, where the less is more and the less is poignantly utter.

- Hypnagogia oozes out and ballances the record all together.

Lowlights

- Chaz seems to be in better control when he's just playing funky fun and not indulging into current trends like trap or spacey R&B.

- The synths are great but the lyrical content just seems redundant and unimpressive.

- For an album this short, it surely suffers from personality disorders.

Standouts

- Fading

- Ordinary Pleasure

- Freelance

Country: USA

Released: January 18, 2019

Length: 30:37

James Blake - Assume Form

7.4

Though more often than not too numb in love to vary subject matters, and besides the quite unnecessary traptronica beats here and there, James Blake continues to deliver beautiful, sumptuously introspective and shyly experimental pop-soul like few others can.

Highlights

- James' voice seems crackling, playful and addictively emotional all throughout.

- As on any of his productions, the instrumental and vocal layers are glorious.

- He managed to canalise his newly-found happiness and still maintain his usual somber, almost ghostly-like perspective on life.

Lowlights

- There are some tracks that don't reach up to the rest of the record's proficiency.

- Repetition has always functioned on his favour, but on several tracks here it does not.

- The collaborations (the one with Rosalía, specifically) could have been better exploited.

Standouts

- Don't Miss It

- Tell Them

- I'll Come Too

Country: UK

Released: January 18, 2019

Length: 48:12