We find stitched and wired together 70’s piano cord riffing  and harmonies  like a less elegant Bread, 80’s up-tightness and jerky synth patterns, scrawls of tamed rock guitar, murmurs of ghetto pop & classic 60’s and 70’s pop edges reborn in modern studio air. Electronic beat scuttling and shaking  & clearly a clever ear for sound production. He’s using a lot more live internments here, though they are clearly manipulated, via technology so it never feels fully live.

Though in time I‘ve find it’s becoming strangle enduring and oddly likeable, it still tends to feel like a very clever retro pick and mix, that does tend to sound a bit forced. RJD2 never seems to fully relaxed here, he always seem to wanting to show compositional and studio trickery, never really relaxing into a groove or atmosphere with enough conviction.

A very brave move that will no doubt loose a lot of his old fan base, but the thing is who is it appealing to?. It’s too clever and not quite memorable enough for a pop audience, but it’s a bit too slick and trying to be too clever for an experimental audience. I really wish him luck with this, whether this  will manage to light minds and body’s remains to be seen.