On “Subsequent To You,” Erykah Badu and The Alchemist preserve issues crisp and unhurried, laying items aspect by aspect like puzzle shapes. The Alchemist flips an Ecstasy, Ardour & Ache loop, layering dusty drums, a low-slung upright bass, and smoky Hammond B3. The combo lets each element ring out, refined shifts gliding below the radar. The snare snaps off, hi-hats flicker, the organ stays low within the concoction. The upright bass plucks ebb and movement like driftwood on open water.
Badu glides in and colours the perimeters, her voice stretching betdween playful and stressed, mid-soprano with a aspect of smoke. She lets the hook trip, flipping “I wanna smoke blunts with you, I do / I wanna be subsequent to you” right into a line that feels equal elements promise and dare. Verses transfer from schoolyard nostalgia to grown-folk longing, the grin tucked in each notice. Because the music hits its again third, ALC drops in a refined change up. Some squelchy and reverse-blooming bass growls present up. Amped guitar notes float in with a hazy, near-sitar shimmer. All of the whereas Erykah’s “I can not assume with out you” chants preserve circling spherical and spherical.
“Subsequent To You” by no means loses its cool – coasting from begin to end. That is two professionals of their factor, turning hazy soul into head-nod funk and leaving the scene washed in a groove-heavy glow.
