★★★★☆
Allen Stone’s rise has had a steady and somewhat inevitable sense to it, but withRadiushis sound has a resounding authenticity that all but cements him as a devotee and purveyor of soulful music with a message.
‘Perfect World’ opens the affair with a gospel vibe, complete with handclaps and group harmonies. Stone favours that vintage soul feel, pushing his powerful vocals to the very front. While there are production flourishes across ‘Guardian Angel’ and the poppiest cut on the album, ‘Freedom’, the piece works best when Stone marries medium and message, as on the humble slow jam of ‘Circle’ or the funk slap of ‘Upside’.
Where Stone truly excels is in the juxtaposition of his optimism with the vicious tone of his more biting tracks. He acknowledges white privilege and materialism on ‘American Privilege’, a track that stings with its opening line, “It doesn’t seem right/That I was born white,” before he opens the piece up with the positivity of ‘Love’. It’s this duelling nature that makes the album feel all the more real.
Radius is an all-encompassing statement from an artist who feels the same pain as we do, but delivers his take sprinkled with optimism, making it easier for us to chew on.
