Music

Album Review: Ology

22 April 2016

By Oisin

Gallant’s debut LP showcases a talent, which with a little time could become formidable. Ology is one of those few albums with more than a few singles worth listening to; almost every track stands on its own.

There is huge variety between the tracks: there’s the synthesizer heavy ‘Open Up’, the orchestral orientated ‘Chandra’, and the pop ballads ‘Weight In Gold’ and ‘Bone + Tissue’. Throughout the album Gallant experiments and pushes through different influences, he even drops an unexpected drum ‘n’ bass back-beat in ‘Precogesic’.  This means that Ology sounds fresh, as Gallant avoids the trap-fall of creating ‘good music’ that all sounds the same.

It is Gallant’s vocals, and not Ology’s instrumentation, that are at the album’s core. Delivery takes precedence over meaning. Gallant makes use of his tremendous falsetto to make his lyrics sound powerful, so as a by-product they are often unintelligible. Under-examination many lyrics fall apart, especially given that Gallant tends to overuse long words.

Alt-R&B is becoming a saturated genre, especially recently given the popularity of Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and ZAYN. However Gallant’s Ology stands strong and unique. It is one of the best releases of this year so far.

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