The Daily Spin, April 21
RAC | BOY
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: BOY (2020)
Artist: RAC
Link:
On his third album, Andre Allen Anjos - better known as RAC - tries to emulate the trials and tribulations of growing up, to mixed effect.
I say this as someone who adores his music - not counting his remixes, which are under their respective artists’ names on last.fm, he’s still my third-most listened to artist of all time, with over 3,000 plays since 2014. EGO is one of my favorite albums ever, and Strangers gave us such phenomenal tracks as ‘Let Go’ and ‘Tear You Down’.
I think what drew me to him, beyond his addictive indie electronica, was his ability to take small names and make something glorious with them - bringing out the best of independent luminaries and tiny bands, leveraging production that borders on genius to fit their niches while staying attuned to his own stylistic choices. His previous works were cohesive but never samey - and I won’t elaborate further because they’ll be getting reviewed in their own time, but it’s absolutely what had me coming back to them over and over again.
With BOY, however, it feels a bit like the total is less than the sum of its parts, rather than more. Features are woefully misapplied, with St. Lucia relegated to a balladic mess at the very end of the album and Louis The Child on a tune that sits in an uncomfortable middle spot between both artists while satisfying neither. His continued drive to support smaller artists is admirable, but it’s a misstep here - asynchronous piano feels wobbly under LeyeT’s insincere vocals on ‘Carefree’ on a song that I still can’t fathom making a single - let alone the lead single.
‘Next To You’ is probably the best of the album, but that entire 5–9 range hits pretty well. It’s the heart of the album, about as close as he gets to the style of his previous choices, wickedly placed synths under guitars with just the right level of human to them. He’s always had a good eye for the small things, and the natural sounds of his instruments are honey to my ears. When they’re allowed to shine, it adds this glorious depth to the track.
It’s still classic RAC when it’s good, and so there’s a floor to my rating that’s inherently above what this album may otherwise be in a different genre, but it’s disappointing to feel like this is a squandered opportunity. As he’s moved out of constantly making music, first dabbling in cryptocurrency (a fact that I, personally, think led to this album being lacklustre) and then moving into other personal projects, I can’t help but wonder if we’ve seen the last of the RAC that drew me in.
Just don’t keep me hangin’ / Just don’t keep me hangin’ on to you
Rating: 7.6/10
Best Tracks: Next To You; Toulouse; Sweater
Worst Tracks: Carefree