★★★★☆
Every lyric of Adrian Younge’sSomething About April IIfeels as though it should be printed on skin; every note feels as though it could be measured in sweat.
It is less an album about sex than it is an album consumed by it, filled from top to lecherous bottom with desire.
It also represents another success for the producer and beatsmith, the second part of a one-two punch begun with Younge and Ghostface Killah’s Twelve Reasons To Die II. As on that similarly infectious album, Something About April II combines retro stylings with a thoroughly modern sensibility. That said, April looks back even further than its creator’s previous work, drawing on baroque and classical references. Indeed, it’s the album the adolescent Mozart might have fashioned if he had access to Playboy and high-fidelity recording equipment. ‘Sandrine’ is so much purple velour; ‘Sea Motet’ is all string-led swagger; and ‘Memories Of War’ redefines the organ solo. It’s oversaturated in the best possible way, and the album only becomes more invigorating the further one sinks into the tracklist, as all semblance of reason disappears and the swathes of velvet and the scent of incense begin to take over.
The soundtrack to all your future debauched nights, this album is the epitome of cool; an endless catalogue of carnal delights.
Adrian Younge’sSomething About April IIis out now through Linear Labs.
