BLACK ICE VINYL In a matter of 13 months, Leon Thomas released Electric Dusk, his first album for Ty Dolla $ign's Motown-affiliated EZMNY label, and returned with MUTT, his second one. As a writer and producer, he also had a hand in multiple songs on Bryson Tiller's self-titled LP, Charlotte Day Wilson's Cyan Blue, and Vultures 1 and 2. Factoring all that, "HOW FAST," the revved-up cinematic start to MUTT, could be heard as Thomas' escape from the studio to blow off steam and gloat. He's full of bravado, declaring himself a visionary, calculating his wealth, and hanging nightly at the strip club -- not the one where he broke up with his woman, mind -- though he avows that he should be settled down. Ambivalence and fleeting moments of certainty with regard to marital status fill Thomas' second album. Even the one that goes "I'm a dog, I'm a mutt," a soul ballad retrofitted with hulking drums and bass, is less a player's anthem than an admission and warning. While the album is a model work of sonic cohesion, wild changes in emotion and perspective are not uncommon. Take how the protagonist swings from indignant isolation on "FEELINGS ON SILENT" to begging for connection on "ANSWER YOUR PHONE." (The latter, a Diane Warren collaboration, is the only song Thomas didn't co-write.) Or how he follows "MUTT" with the finely-wrought "I DO," a thankful love song trailed by the lithe "I USED TO," a duet with Baby Rose that is all acid, bitter and sad. Most of the aforementioned action takes place near or during the second half. The section that precedes it contains some of Thomas' most creatively layered and emotionally complex songs yet. "SAFE PLACE," urgent and defiant, knocking and blaring, inserts a sample of Donny Hathaway asking, "Is that any way for a man to carry on?," and that can be taken as either support or objection. "DANCING WITH DEMONS" rides in on a foreboding bassline that gains strength when joined by a grinding Thomas guitar riff. "VIBES DON'T LIE" is so warped that it's easy to miss the humor ("We like Weezy and Styrofoam") and seemingly effortless falsetto on fogged-out display. Another latter-half highlight is "YES IT IS," an expression of sexual possessiveness with a gospel-fied chorus worthy of any given '90s vocal group. This is all alluring in the manner of a good neo-noir film. A1 How Fast 2:55A2 Safe Place 2:39A3 Dancing With Demons 4:02A4 Vibes Don’t Lie 3:22A5 Lucid Dreams 3:46A6 Feelings On Silent 3:29A7 Answer Your Phone 4:02B1 Yes It Is 3:48B2 Far Fetched 4:08B3 Sooner Or Later 1:49B4 Mutt 3:13B5 I Do 2:41B6 I Used To 3:28B7 Mutt (Remix) 4:17
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