The Daily Spin, November 26
dvsn | SEPT 5TH
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 songs from each album right here.
Album: SEPT 5TH (2016)
Artist: dvsn
Link:
Much like the review of Miguel’s wildheart earlier this week, this is an album that focuses strongly on the steamier elements of RnB - with that same slant towards the respectful, a faceless homage to the best of love and lust.
Where Miguel takes focus on the act itself, it feels like dvsn instead chooses to surround you with the stories of the aftermath - the post-infidelity ‘Another One’ and the will-I/won’t-I anthem ‘Try/Effortless’ stand out in this regard, songs that take those low-and-slow jams and add a surprising depth of emotionality to it.
At the time of release, this was an album from two of Drake’s faceless collaborators - we had two names, but little else to go on. Producer Ninteen85 shines in this downtempo court, providing an absolutely perfect foil for vocalist Daniel Daley, whose upper reaches nail a lot of that proper feeling that seems like it belongs with this music.
In the time since, we’ve been able to attach more to these identities, but in 2016, when this came out, this was just another element to the mystique of dvsn - one that, at the time, played directly into the identity of the album. I think this facelessness doesn’t always hit - there’s something to a personal connection, of course, but at the same time, there’s a bit of everyone in this album. I like that.
Rating: 8.7/10
Best Tracks: Try / Effortless; Too Deep; Hallucinations
Worst Tracks: In + Out