Soul Reserve is the absorbing new full-length from producer, beat maker, and musician Spoken Thought, who crafts a versatile beat tape drawing from soul, jazz, R&B, and underground hip-hop. Highlights span from lusher contemplations like “Sweet Dreams” to the more soulful hip-hop force of “Full Time Hustle.” The production envelops in its variety-filled soundscapes. Produced with headphone listening in mind, many of the tracks feel especially suited for late-night drives and restful creative spaces.
A brief yet impactful opener, “Get Away” sets the album into illuminated motion, as heartrending strings, vintage piano adornments, and a soulful croon meld with timeless sophistication. “Cat’s Out” then arrives, furthering the soulful strings and piano within an expressively high-pitched vocal ardor and colorful organs. The sturdier rhythmic pulse here is infectiously interwoven, while the sporadic bursts of wordless vocals heighten the already-evident momentum. “Skies” furthers the album’s magnetic start, here embracing tender guitar tones right away, and then progressing to caressing strings and wondrous vocal blissfulness, aesthetically conjuring lovely shades of The Avalanches.
A more elegantly introspective spectrum emerges on “Sweet Dreams,” an intoxicating success that shifts from rainy-day piano wanderings to spine-tingling smoky, soulful vocal reflections, whose references to reminders of loneliness prompted by “rain-swept beaches” echo a romantic longing, while the jazzy guitar work around midpoint features gorgeous interplay with piano and pit-pattering lo-fi percussion. Elsewhere, moving from the emotive somberness of “Sweet Dreams” to head-nodding swagger, “Full Time Hustle” struts an impeccable vibe in its blend of glistening keys, shimmering strings, and hip-hop percussion, bolstered by eclectic vocals that stretch from initial, husky title-touting bravado to slight backing flourishes.
The album’s knack for beat-driven versatility again shows on “That Good Good,” yearning to “let the time just fade” while imploring to “roll it up.” The delectably lethargic vocal refrain and mellow keys combine with click-clacking rhythms for a transportive sound, being ideal for blunt-rolling background listening, sitting comfortably on the same album as highlights like “Elsewhere,” which resembles nostalgic productions in the Delfonic style in its expressive vocal movements and orchestral vibrancy.
“Oceans” is another masterful construction of mood, with shades of a more restrained Flying Lotus in its drive from alluring late-night piano work to harmoniously laid-back vocal layers and a luminous string presence. That hypnotic, nocturnal soundscape continues in the ensuing “Sir,” where a debonair guitar presence delights alongside a glistening effect and glimpses of free-range, jazzy keys. Album finale “Goodbye” then bids farewell in satiating form, with its clap-laden rhythms and hauntingly wordless vocal layers. Wonderfully immersive in its dynamic range of beats and consistent emotion, Soul Reserve is an excellent album from Spoken Thought.
