EP Reviews: FLO, The Alchemist, Ghost

3 Of Us EP - FLO

I've been paying a lot of attention to the R&B trio FLO recently following a strong EP they dropped last year. Adding onto that they kicked off 2023 with an absolutely great single called Fly Girl. The song was a textbook 2000s throwback with Missy Elliott on board for a perfect guest verse. I was a little disappointed to see that song not appear here. though excited regardless because the group had recently succeeded so well within the EP format. That's why I find the opener Control Freak so disappointing with its really heavy-handed melodies and lyrical content. The song's subject matter just feels way too obvious and sonically it never materializes into anything even remotely smooth. 

Thankfully the second track Change is much closer to a return to form. It wouldn't be among my favorite of the group's tracks but it does a great job at highlighting the members' distinctive features. It also has a beautifully layered hook that features more great vocalizing than any one song should be able to contain. I also think the closing track is solid and the way it taps into a love square (??) is great. This project is fine and via simple math, I like more of it than I don't. But I'm not sure these songs soar in the moment or stick afterward as well as their previous release. This project is worth checking out, but only if you're already familiar with better short-form R&B projects from earlier this year like Summer Walker's and MAR1ASOL's 6/10

Flying High EP - The Alchemist

I've always been a fan of legendary producer The Alchemist's production. I've also enjoyed his previous two EPs in the This Thing Of Ours series. The bite-size and often feature-packed projects saw Alchemist setting up his collaborators with some rich lo-fi instrumentals to do their thing over. I didn't really have any reason to suspect that would be different on this new project but after first listening to these 4 tracks, something is off. Opener RIP Tracy pairs Earl Sweatshirt with billy woods which should be right up my alley. I even think the instrumental is solid but the performances from both rappers tend to just slide right past me. Nothing that either of them says is all that captivating and both flows seem sloppier than usual in a bad way. The second track Trouble Man is similarly flat. While I normally like Boldy James quite a bit I feel like his performance here is pointlessly flat.

The third track Bless is led off by MIKE, who I'm normally not crazy about. But in this bizzare-o world of an album I actually really enjoy the songs bouncy piano instrumental and both rapper's performances. All the closing track Midnight Oil did was remind me that I still haven't reviewed the boring Alchemist and Larry June album from earlier this year. Let's just say this song would fit in perfectly. I'm not sure what went wrong with this project but a bunch of normally very consistent artists and a producer whose work I've always adored just served up very little I enjoy. No matter how many times I try the songs here the project doesn't click with me like Alc's past two EPs. Regardless, I'll still excitedly dive into anything the certified legend does in the future, this just isn't anyone involved's best work. 4/10

Phantomime EP - Ghost

The Swedish kings of theater kid metal are decidedly back. I didn't review their new album last year, their first in 4 years but it wasn't because I hated it or anything. I just found so little left to say about their stage performance heavy-metal that I hadn't already covered in the past. But according to raw numbers on that project and this EP the band is more popular than ever so I couldn't miss another release. Like with many Ghost projects, what first turned me away from tracks at first did start to grown on me. In the case of opening track See No Evil that happens as the song literally goes on, turning its kind of dorky hook and glam rock guitars into something that is unmistakably triumphant. I also enjoy the EPs 7-minute embrace of rock opera, fittingly called Phantom Of The Opera. Honestly, I'm surprised it took the band this long to conjure up this particular brand of theatricality. 

One song I haven't come around on, and I'm sorry to say for Ghost fans, is the project's biggest hit Jesus He Knows Me. I just cannot meet this chorus halfway. With its dorky elevating melodies and guitar lines layering on top of each other over and over it truly does feel like Christian metal even given the subject matter. This sounds straight-up 80s in the corniest way possible. I'm slightly more tolerant of the corniness on Hanging Around because I find it pretty funny. The problem is I can't really pin down exactly whether or not it's supposed to be funny or not. In one sense this project feels like a somewhat minor development in the ongoing story of Ghost, but it also feels like the band is pushing some of their trademark buttons down harder than ever before, with mixed results. 6/10