Reviews
November: 18 albums you need to hear this month
Month's listening sorted
Visionist 'Value' (Big Dada)
Visionist’s follow-up to ‘Safe’ once again invites you into a troubled world, as seen through the eyes of an artist. But this time, we’re left blinking into neon lights post-anxiety attack, with our pupils hastily trying to readjust and our pulses still racing. The album starts as it means to go on, with a haze of cinematic emotions and crackly crooning; the 10-track LP also features Visionist’s own vocals for the first time, as the producer explores weighty ideas of self-love, self-deprecation and self-preservation. The LP’s reserved, unadulterated strength is what carries it through, saturating tracks such as ‘Homme’ and all of its masculine connotations. If ‘Safe’ was Visionist’s “personal portrait of anxiety”, then ‘Value’ is his awakening. Jasmine Kent-Smith
9/10
Rationale 'Rationale' (Warner Brothers)
“Bops and ballads” is one of the best descriptions we’ve used to describe the music of Rationale, aka Tinashe Fazakerley. Alongside MNEK, he’s one of the buzziest young male artists to be signed to a major label as of late. But while MNEK sells Mariah-esque r’n’b via classy pop, Tinashe arguably offers a more truthful strain of soul. Opener ‘Re:Up’ (co-written by Zena Kitt, who also appears on the track) cleverly uses a dealer drop-off as a metaphor for affection and addiction (“waiting for the Re:Up/I can’t get enough”), while ‘Loving Life’ channels Jermaine Jackson’s ‘Do What You Do’ but takes it to church rather than the charts. 'Fast Lane’, meanwhile, drives straight to the pop pulpit with a chorus Jim Steinman would be proud of. Ralph Moore
8/10
