Rating: NNN
Cocaine, a single by Odd Future-affiliated R&B duo the Internet, is one of those rare pop songs that treats a druggy subject with objective detachment. A sweet but bleary-sounding Syd the Kyd alluringly induces a lovely young lady to “ignore the consequence,” hinting that something unseemly is in store despite musical partner Matt Martians’s lush, lulling atmospherics.
That underlying foreboding runs through Purple Naked Ladies, an album that essentially sounds like so-called 90s “neo-soul” music after a few hits of its titular acid. A mix of extended jazzy jams and short, pointed love songs, it’s a soothing sonic world that mirrors altered mind-states, and the enjoyable lightness of touch should shake the crass and crude baggage that comes with being an Odd Future-affiliated act.
Syd’s voice resembles her appearance: waifish, slight, quick to blend in. She mostly drifts through the music, and is more compelling when getting into trouble – as on Cocaine and Fastlane – rather than lamenting love lost.
Top track: Cocaine
