Hope y’all had a nice Bank Holiday / Memorial Day Weekend! It was another week of album / E.P. releases last week and we’ve rounded up the best ones for you.
Getting right to it…
1. Ro James takes us on a ride to Eldorado
Following months of promotion and teasing with dope single after dope single, Ro James released his debut album Eldorado Friday 27 May. There was a fair bit of hype surrounding the release of this album and turns out it was well-deserved. Ro James proves simultaneously proves his vocal, song-writing and heart-stealing bad-boy chops.
‘Eldorado’ is immensely versatile, really taking you on a ride through both the range and eras of Soul music. Starting on a mellow, but groovy note with ‘The Ride’, the album progresses through to the steamy, not-so-subtle ‘Permission’, the single that made it’s way up the single charts and is currently streamed 7.5m times on Spotify alone. Guided by smooth transitions between James’ baritone and falsetto, ‘Permission’ is a throwback to old Soul (think Marvin Gaye or Luther Vandross), that avoids coming off as gimmicky. The album eventually picks up the tempo on songs like Already Knew That and our #NewSongOfTheDay-featured Gas. It ends on a high note with the title track, a lush guitar-riffing record.
Ro James has gotten Maxwell, D’Angelo, Marvin Gaye and even Prince comparisons. While we think such comparisons often do emerging artists a dis-service, the breadth of these comparisons gives a sense of James’ immense versatility and talent. Read a full review here and see this Billboard interview with Ro James from January to get to know the so-called R&B bady. Eldorado is available as an Apple Music exclusive for a week. It’ll be available on all the other streaming platforms from Friday 3rd June. Be sure to download the album on iTunes if you’re feeling the man #SupportNewArtists.
