There’s a new N.E.R.D. album out so it’s best to plan ahead: Carve out some time and be prepared to put in some work. N.E.R.D. albums are not passive things. This is not background dinner music, folks.
The 11-track No_One Ever Really Dies by the trio — Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley — is equal parts experimental, intriguing, frustrating and captivating. In other words, very true to its side-project DNA.
Many of the songs don’t seem quite finished and some are completely overcooked. A few switch gears in mid-stream, as if the band was distracted by something else shiny in the studio. Many of the lyrics are wacky — until they get deadly serious.
It’s tempting to initially dismiss the whole thing as half-baked — or at least made while really baked. But there’s also great richness here, sometimes hiding in the layered swaths of upbeat computer synth, distorted sounds, endless repetition and random electronic shards.
As a testament to Williams’ stature, he has attracted Rihanna, Gucci Mane, Wale, Kendrick Lamar, Future, M.I.A., Andre 3000 and Ed Sheeran to make featured appearances, while A$AP Rocky and Mary J. Blige offer backing vocals on Kites.
Just as he asks plenty from his listeners, his guests are also made to work, not just add lustre. So Rihanna raps on the opener Lemon and Sheeran is almost unrecognisable in the closing track, the reggae-themed Lifting You.
In Voila, Williams mimics a ’80s computer voice and in 1000 he and Future mock conspicuous consumption in a New Wave style. ESP is pretty much fully insane and Lightning Fire Magic Prayer has complete brilliance often lost in the mix.
N.E.R.D. teams up with Lamar and co-writer Frank Ocean on the groovy Don’t Don’t Do It!, inspired by fatal police shootings of black men. “How many more of us gotta see the coroner?” Lamar raps. “Slain by the state badge.” This is an album that references Voltron and Bentley cars but also notes “corporations won’t pay for effects they cause.”
If most people stumble across No_One Ever Really Dies expecting an album of wall-to-wall versions of Williams’ hit Happy, they’ll be likely confused. But whoever sticks around and puts in some effort will find little jewels. You have to be a little geeky to unlock N.E.R.D.
