Solange - Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams

Tracklist
God Given Name 2:51
T.O.N.Y. 3:53
Dancing In The Dark 3:57
Would've Been The One 4:31
Sandcastle Disco 4:28
I Decided Pt. 14:13
Valentine's Day 3:26
6 O'Clock Blues 3:37
Ode To Marvin 3:15
I Told You So 3:57
Cosmic Journey 6:12
This Bird 6:08
I Decided Pt. 2 4:01

Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams is more familiar than its title and cover-art might suggest, most of it riding the classicist Motown framework repopularized by Amerie and producer Rich Harrison. Instead, Solange's vision and, depending on how you look at it, pretension manifests in an aesthetic of excess: On "Would've Been the One", the sudden rhythmic contortions, the dizzying chord progressions, the too-bright dazzle of Solange's vocal and the excesses of her harmonies combine to form something gloriously surplus-to-requirements. Likewise, the conflicted "T.O.N.Y.", with its circular lyrical fixations (the one-night-stand that got away) and lurching groove, at first feels somehow top-heavy before snapping into place with a charming short-circuit of restless confusion and explosive conviction.