Dvsn released a 13-track album on Friday the 13th. Did the album provide much needed spooky love jams or fall behind its shadows?
Image source is from dvsn's website
The Canadian R&B duo dvsn, pronounced “division,” released their sophomore album “Morning After” to all the R&B-loving OVO Sound supporters.
Daniel Daley and Nineteen85 signed to Drake’s label, OVO Sound, as the duo “dvsn” last February. Dvsn made a notable appearance in their “Faithful” feature in the 2016 release of “Views” by Drake.
Other prominent OVO Sound signed artists include: PARTYNEXTDOOR, Majid Jordan, Roy Woods, OB O’Brien and Baka Not Nice.
Dvsn’s previous debut album “Sept. 5th” received a positive reaction because of its association with OVO Sound.
There is something enjoyable about the way the album begins in “Run Away.” The vocals are introduced in an out-of-nowhere high pitch tone that resembles Roy Woods, fellow signed OVO Sound artist. The transition from intro track to “Nuh Time / Tek Time” isn’t successful in that fluidity isn’t quite there yet.
The album has an old school R&B sound. The heavy vocals combined with the bass mixed with different layers of his vocals give that ’90s vibe that OVO sound hasn’t displayed in its artists before.
“Mood” demonstrates the classic R&B influence dvsn, making the hit stand out from the rest. The high pitched singing and slow jam bass brings you back to those Marvin Gaye days.
About halfway through listening to the album for the third time, it’s quite clear that there is a beautiful style that dvsn possesses, but it almost makes it hard to listen to each song for what it really is. The lack of audible variety creates an assortment of placeholder tracks in between the standout songs from the album.
The stand out tracks include “Don’t Think About Me,” “Mood” and “Morning After.” “Morning After” marks a turning point in the album. The pace and energy of the song livens up the album to balance it from its classic slow R&B predecessors.
The album contains a lot of beautiful and loving, behind-closed-doors songs that don’t quite tell a story cohesively. They speak of love and romance in every way possible but it doesn’t leave you feeling like you’ve just listened to someone’s story. It would be nice to see the artist development of dvsn’s work progress from a list of songs with a theme to a vibrant story of passion, love and everything in between. This can build a connection to their listeners and fans that resonates with them to listen more than just once.
There are a lot of great opportunities for dvsn to create a more cohesive story-line, but this is just their second album in the past year. Both Daley and Nineteen85 have extreme talent and attention to detail when it comes to making music. The duo has some minor storytelling improvements to make but they show great potential. For this reason, this album will get a three out of five stars.
Alejandra Solorio can be reached at [email protected] or @alesolorio8 on Twitter.
