dvsn - Morning After

dvsn
Morning After
2017
Spotify

dvsn have always been just a bit more forward thinking than some of their other OVO label counterparts. PARTYNEXTDOOR is fully grounded in a modern sound, music for right now and the Weeknd is far more focused on pop. dvsn however create these incredibly rich and incredibly complex songs that elevate far beyond plain old R&B. The first two tracks just spill into each other and while they use elements of the past to keep the music grounded they elaborate from there and even work with soundscapes to paint such vivid pictures. With songs that are as short as two minutes and some as long as almost six they don't really work with a pop formula it's more free form like these ideas and notes are just sort of rising up from the ether. Just when you think they are going to be far to experimental for your liking, they shift gears and dive deep on the sexiness on tracks like "Fortunate". They are able to sound so soulful yet so sexual without reaching that tipping point where it becomes kind of gross. It just slides along creating this really interesting world to bolster Daniel Daley's amazing vocals. On "Don't Choose" it is classic dvsn but at the end drops into this piano and singer sample that is splashy and incredible. Nineteen85 who handles all the production for dvsn, simply hits it out of the park on this one showing just how much range and what great taste he has. Morning After never feels like a sophomore album because all the choices they make are so bold and so vividly what dvsn should be about.

Ninteen85 and Daley both keep their lives quite private, rarely tweeting and allowing their music to speak for them. Instead of sounding like an artist from 2017, really obsessed with the life of being a famous musician dvsn seem wholly focused on the music. Daley ends up sounding more like Ginuwine or Maxwell rather than the Weeknd or Chris Brown. At 51 minutes it is long for a pop/R&B record but you never notice because it is so damn different. It's not often something can feel modern and also grown up but dvsn do it perfectly on Morning After. Even the songs that kind of bop like the 90s inspired "Can't Wait" still have this sense of slipperiness, like you can never fully get a hold of them because so much is shifting and moving. Morning After is the album that dvsn were destined to make and will only further their legend. We will just have to wait and see where this goes next, because it is already exciting to watch what these guys have become.

9.0 out of 10