Spiritual child of Prince, Yves Tumor had scored a big blow with his second album, launched in 2020. Drawing from the source of psychedelic soul by coating it with tense, crushed and sometimes even dissonant textures, the American artist offered an avenue almost unprecedented funk. Of course, we haven’t denied the work done on Heaven for a Tortured Mind – the excellent instrumental Purified by the Fire is a beautiful art-soul exercise while the lascivious and sexy Echolalia proves to be one of the highlights of the new collection of songs; but Tumor deliberately chose a more accessible vehicle, swapping the funky bass for the shoegaze drones.

The result is an album that leans more towards Manchester Britpop than R

Meteora Blues, Operator and In Spite of War are not unworthy either, ensuring an overall cohesion to the most digestible album to date from the Floridian artist. Although we would have liked Tumor to continue to build on the foundations of his previous work, we will not sulk his pleasure.