Ilp

"It can feel difficult to criticize an artist as flagrantly sincere and musically talented as Kwes-this is a guy who caps off his debut album with song dedicated to the love between his grandparents, after all. But as it turns out, those two qualities, the earnestness of the lyrics and the shifting quality of the music, combine to eventually thwart ilp's success. Kwes's gentle songwriting sensibilities are unable to keep up with his exploratory beat making and the result is too often a mismatch that ends up leaving the listner at a loss".

Read review

"36 is the most quintessentially pop song included on his debut album, ilp, and it's a beauty. Based around a lazily loping bass and a piano riff that could be a slowed down Balearic vamp it's upbeat without being too showy. But Kwes is not afraid to strip everything back to the bare minimum; during the opening verse, his vocals are backed only by the drums and an abbreviated bassline. Cablecar is the most prolonged experiment of the album, and it's also one of the most successful. Like several of ilp's songs, it begins with slightly hazy vocals and a steady beat, before woozy synths and elements of atonality drag the song off in a totally new direction".

Read review