Apollo XXI - Steve Lacy: Review

Steve Lacy

is a California based multi-instrumentalist and producer and key member of Odd Future spin off group The Internet. Over the past few years he has rapidly gained a huge increase in profile after securing production credits for some major artists like J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Denzel Curry. He has also been recruited for features from other high profile artists like Tyler The Creator, Vampire Weekend and Kali Uchis. He released a mixtape of demo songs a few years ago and has finally aligned to release his long awaited debut album. 

Review By Lavender:

While I have been an admirer of Steve Lacy's work for quite a long time it is really difficult to say I consider myself a fan given that his only true solo release let me down, even given it was a demos tape. Despite this I had some expectations going into this project as Lacy is clearly a talented producer and bass player, but the ideas on Apollo proved to be too inconsistent from the start for him to build strongly on them. 

The album opens up with Only If one of numerous short tracks here that briefly dive into a catchy refrain or concept and ride it for what it's worth. Guide and In Lust We Trust also share this approach and it helps the tracklist stay littered with refreshing ideas and sharp concepts. Unfortunately it is most of the longer tracks that serve as the albums major let downs. 

Like Me is an inexplicably 9 minute long song split into some strange and disjointed segments. It opens up with a jazzy refrain that could use a little bit better mixing, and while the vocals are nice and the lyrics are very personal this passage of the song is just okay overall. From here everything falls apart as the track transitions from some disjointed and extended synth passages that don't feel like they are interpolated right and then into a long second passage with a decent instrumental but a very underwhelming vocal delivery. The song does not use up nearly enough of its time with quality content and there is no way to justify this thing being nearly ten minutes. Lay Me Down is strictly a vibe song that is mind-numbingly repetitive with just a decent instrumental and a sexy trap laced over everything. N Side is an okay song that develops really slowly and beats its title refrain to death. It very nearly redeems itself with an intoxicating spoken word passage that I like quite a bit and concludes with a sweet reprise. 

Outro Freestyle/Forever is one of the worst tracks here and yet another one that sounds closer to something that would have been on Lacy's demo tape than on a proper album. It has a half-assed rap verse that sounds every bit of a freestyle in the beginning and the vocals get even worse as Steve Lacy adopts a trap flow and then seems to go at a Jaden Smith impression. The second half of the song samples Solange's Exit Scott a track Lacy originally has his hand in and while it is still as good as it was on When I Get Home earlier this year the notion of using what is effectively another artists song as the closing moment of your album is yet another sign of what feels like a long overdue but still woefully unfinished project, 

Despite all my issues with many of the tracks here there are a handful of hits. Playground is a pretty sharp track that shows off Lacy's excellent bass playing and while his high pitched singing isn't perfect ultimately I enjoy this tune. Hate CD is a song that features plenty of conflicting styles but somehow comes out great on the other end. The track serves up a mix of indie pop, R&B and low-fi hip hop with some great keys and percussion that ultimately make it worth while. Love 2 Fast is probably my favorite song here and it feels like Steve playing perfectly to his strengths. It has a charismatic vocal performance that is front and center in the mix and is catchy from top to bottom. 

Lacy waited a long time to finally drop a true studio album but now that Apollo is here it doesn't seem like he spent much of that time honing these tracks down to their respective gems. The underwhelming mixing and songwriting that appears over and over again on this album muddles what is clearly a talented songwriter and performer that we know is capable of putting together better tunes. I will certainly still be excited to see Lacy within the liner notes of any major albums but as far as solo material goes he has had a long time to wow me with almost no success yet. 4/10

Best Track: Love 2 Fast

For more from the Odd Future-verse check out my review of Tyler, The Creator's IGOR here.