Though it doesn't invite the same press it did in the late-‘90s,neo-soul has evolved over the last decade into a weirder, much more eclecticgenre, shedding some of the classicist principals as its marquee artists furtheropen themselves to the possibilities of hip-hop and electronic music. ErykahBadu's latest record, New Amerykah Part Two, was her most beat-oriented yet,and also one of her most instantly enjoyable. Bilal's new album Airtight's Revenge issimilarly immediate, replacing the easy soul-jazz of Bilal's long-ago debut 1stBorn Second with purposeful hip-hop grooves and stormy, rock-influenced arrangements. It owes littleto the tranquil neo-soul of the late-'90s.
On his first album in eight years (Interscope shelved his2006 record after it leaked online), Bilal's versatile voice alternatingly cutsthrough the tension and lends to it. After four minutes of controlled build up,his composed, jazzy croon gives way to fits of spasms and wails in the closing movementsof the single “Restart.” Each track reveals another layer of his voice, a newtone or timbre or surprise technique. On the chorus of “All Mater,” he teases alovely, one-off falsetto he could easily revisit on every song. In spirit, thoughcertainly not technique, his nervy, go-for-broke bluster suggests David Byrne'stireless Stop Making Sense performance (a comparison especially easy to makewhen Airtight takes a turn toward avant funk on “Robots.”)
For some neo-soul purists, Bilal's newly cynical lyrical bent will be asjarring as Airtight's lopsided beats and blurting noises. With scant sentimentality, hesings of hardscrabble characters who never find their way, crises of faith thatare never resolved and relationships set to expire, eschewing the optimisticaffirmations of first wave neo-soul for a more hardened, “that's how it is”bluntness. On Airtight's Revenge Bilal is no longer playing by the conventionsof neo-soul or any genre, and that freedom is intoxicating, even when it draws him tounexpectedly dark places.
