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May 19, 2017 Issue #60 - Father John Misty By Charles Steinberg

It’s always exciting when soul music gets a new nightingale, with a distinct swag from his own select persuasions. When the likes of D’Angelo, John Legend, and Leon Bridges appear, a warmth enters the air around the speakers they call through and the vibe turns groovier. Adding his own accent to a lexicon spoken with such legacy entrenched, Nick Hakim has arrived on his debut full-length, Green Twins, with the gait of a classy nonchalance. He acts like he’s been here all along.

The initial recognition is of Hakim as one whose tutelage would have naturally led him through that auspicious vortex of golden era hip-hop, classic soul, and the type of contemporary alt rock that had might and imagination. The notion is confirmed upon discovering the diverse cast from whom he has taken cue. Gleaning from such artists as Robert Wyatt, Marvin Gaye, and Shuggie Otis to The Impressions and My Bloody Valentine, as well as the personae of hip-hop elite like RZA, OutKast, and Madlib, Hakim has cultivated an abstract soul virtuality with elements of all the above.

The funneled, slow churning, sample drum-loop rhythms and translucent sheets of filtered guitar, horns, and keys deepen the dimensions where reflections can loiter. Hakim lets them and in granting them space, takes on the role of host, calmly inviting interaction with a patient delivery hovering somewhere between D’Angelo and M. Ward. Some passages meander for an afternoon stroll, occupying familiar zones conjured in Frank Ocean’s Blonde, drifting out of immediacy and teasing you to look further. As the tour guide, Hakim’s bearings are woozy in these spaces, then more alert, nimbly hopscotching the beat on pleasant bouncers like “Roller Skates” and the bounding ditty bop of “Bet She Looks Like You.” Nick Hakim is blending into the new neighborhood swimmingly, and he’s letting you come to him. (www.nickhakim.com)

Author rating: 8/10