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Denzel Curry should cut the concept. TA1300, his third studio album, divided over three discs, embodying the light, grey and dark sides of Curry’s persona, tires of anything resembling a unifying theme three tracks in. The light side of TA1300 alone (with its mostly breezy R&B, House and Nostalgia tinged beats, brandishes some twisted and fragmented narratives amidst the usual slew of casual braggadocio. The first two tracks of the light side document Curry’s naïve attempts to console an abused lover, bungling his consolations and breaking his own heart “watching your destiny fold in the grip of my palms/ Paper planes being thrown on the side of the lawn”. These tracks highlight the dark lyricism present throughout; though, running these tender and poetic opines to ex-lovers into a silly bling anthem, such as the garish ‘‘Cash Maniac,’’ is close to tasteless.
That aside, TAA1300 is by no means a bad album. Curry’s brilliance lies in his ability to inhabit a multitude of styles and flows over a short running time. Starting with his intensely personal poetry (‘‘TABOO’’), maturing to reflections on societal injustices, Curry proves both poignant and incisive with his pen. Attempting to relate these aspects of his writing, Curry even clumsily compares America to an abuse victim (‘‘SIRENS’’). However, where Curry’s ink blots the page, his voice is still heard loud and clear thanks to his brilliant vocal inflections and flawless ability to switch up flow (‘‘SWITCH IT UP’’).
The production throughout the album is brilliant. A smorgasbord of quantised Soundcloud beats: bubbly synth loops gnarled by dirty 808s, the beats growing in aggression and noise throughout; perhaps the only element of TA1300 sticking to the three disk blueprint. ‘VENGEANCE’’ has an unexpected JPEGMAFIA feature, fresh from the release of his own album, Veteran (which currently tops my album of the year list), continuing his Kanye worship with an inversion of the uplifting hook of ‘‘We Don’t Care’, “We wasn’t supposed to make it past twenty-five”, is followed with pleas to die, suiting the monstrous production behind him.
Tacit nods to the theme that was promised are a nice touch, but appear as aesthetic choices, things simply added in post-production. The ghostly vocals on ‘VENGEANCE’ peel away into soulful instrumentation, reminiscent of the opening tracks. But these aren’t adequate reasons to pore over the album for tacit links between songs, as any links found would be superficial, an injustice to the sheer focus and enjoyability that Curry provides us instead on each individual track.
This review previously featured in our print edition, available now across campus and in select locations around Dublin.
