Rid of Me

Overrated in my opinion. There's some good stuff here but not enough.

Pushes the boundaries of the genre in interesting ways.

The first half of this album is some of the best music I've ever heard. The second half is merely great. That slight drop-off is the only thing keeping this from a perfect score. Still an essential listen.

Not sure what happened here. Their previous work was so strong and this feels like a significant step backward. The songwriting is lazy, the production is overwrought, and the whole thing feels phoned in. A couple of decent tracks don't save it.

I've given this album a fair shot — probably seven or eight full listens — and I just can't connect with it the way so many people seem to. The opening track drew me in with its promise of something special, but the album never delivers on that promise. It keeps gesturing toward profundity without actually achieving it. The production is admittedly impressive from a technical standpoint, and there are flashes of genuine songwriting talent. But too much of this feels like an artist trying to be Important with a capital I rather than just making good music. I wanted to love it, I really did.

The atmosphere this album creates is incredible.

This album has been in heavy rotation for me since it came out. It's not quite flawless — there's a stretch in the middle that loses momentum, and one track I usually skip — but the highs are so high that the minor dips barely register. The opening three tracks alone would make this worth owning. What I appreciate most is the willingness to take risks. Not every experiment lands perfectly, but the ones that do are genuinely thrilling. You can hear an artist pushing past their comfort zone and finding something new. That kind of creative courage is rare and should be celebrated even when the results are imperfect.

Started strong but lost me in the back half. The opening three tracks had me excited and then it just sort of coasts on autopilot. Would have been a much stronger EP than it is an album.

There's a really great EP buried inside this album. The problem is the surrounding material dilutes the impact. When this hits, it HITS — a couple of these tracks are among the best things they've ever done. But then you get a run of three mediocre songs in a row and the momentum completely dies. I appreciate the attempt at a longer, more ambitious project, but I think this artist works better in shorter formats. The ideas here are strong but they're stretched too thin. Still worth hearing for the highlights though.

I appreciate what they were going for even if it doesn't fully land.