Love in a time of madness

" Due to the frequent presence of producer Antario "Tario" Holmes, the primary mode is commercial and contemporary R&B - booming bass, burbling electronic FX, and other tricks of trap-style production, most prominently those snaking synthetic snares dragged as rapidly as flicked comb teeth ... Three collaborations with Mali Music are comparatively organic and traditionalist, dispersed across the album. Additionally, a throwback-to-throwback sequence of disco-funk numbers, also produced by Tario, provides an untroubled break in the middle".

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"On his fourth album for the Blue Note label, James deftly underlines jazz's flexibility in relation to new pop trends, the way Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis did in the past".

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"Don't ever let it be said that James is afraid to mess with a winning formula. Shucking a lean jazz style for a slick r&b approach usually smacks of cashing in with a commercial product, but James seems more like he's coming at his fans from left field, hoping he can convince them he's as bad as he is good. Love In A Time Of Madness references contemporary influences like Drake, Kanye West and Bryson Tiller, but also reflects the Minneapolis music scene of James' youth".