by Sam Wolstenholm
Who is this Steve Lacy guy? He's seemingly come out of nowhere, but he's been behind the scenes producing for artists like Kendrick Lamar until ones of his tracks hit the TikTok-sphere. On July 15th, 2022, he released his second studio album: Gemini Rights. His first was Apollo XXI, but I've never heard of that until now. He's got a unique sound that a lot of people seem to enjoy, so let me see if I do too. Before I go though, just know that I am not well-verses in astrology, so there could easily be some things that go over my head in that regard. Feel free to let me know if you catch some stuff like that.
1. "Static"
One thing cannot be denied: Steve Lacy has some high-quality production. I'm not talking about the musical elements of it. I'm talking about the actual sound quality of his songs. Everything is mixed well. It's all clear, and his vocals click right in with the production. The sounds he uses are textured well even if they are as simple as a grand piano or an electric guitar (both are on this track). Therefore, I will not be mentioning that part of the album after this (edit note: that sentence was a lie). It's just high-quality sounds.
Now, this track on its own is...alright. It's the album opener, so it'll get some leeway from me for that. However, it's got something about it that doesn't quite hit the mark for me. The production is soft and sweet. His singing isn't bad. I don't hate the lyrics either. In fact, I get a toned-down BROCKHAMPTON vibe from this. Maybe that's because he is talking about his bisexuality, but I really don't think it's that. His delivery just gives me that Kevin Abstract feel. I like Kevin Abstract though, so that isn't inherently a bad thing. The melodies are pretty catchy too. I also like that he actually coughs the word "cough" instead of just saying it. That was cool. I guess what's missing is an individuality. Something that makes this stand out. Why would I listen to this instead of BROCKHAMPTON? Hopefully the rest of the album answers that question.
2. "Helmet"
The drums don't change across this track, though they do sound cool. The bass is more of a melodic thing than a bass-feel thing. It works though? There's also this weird synth guitar thing every now and then. It sticks out in the production, but it does so in a good way. I know I said I wouldn't address it again, but I guess I lied (edit note: see?). The quality of the production is high, yes, but it might be the unique thing I'm looking for. This is because he doesn't exactly try to separate every single sound. He does a good job at creatively mixing them together to create more of an atmosphere than an arrangement of sounds. As far as vocals go, I do think this is where the song lacks. The melodies are solid but basic. His performance is passible but nothing special. The lyrics are pretty surface level. It's a song about love. "I got my heart in a helmet." That's really all you need to know. No deep insights really. I think this track tries too hard to be an alternative pop sound, but it doesn't all exactly fit. It's okay, but this isn't one I can see myself listening to after this review.
3. "Mercury"
We've got a latin-influenced beat following a 3/4 time signature. It uses intruments like shakers, trumpets, and acoustic guitar. This kind of gives it a dancey, live band feel. I don't hate the beat, but it can get old by the time the track is over. It's unnecessarily five minutes long (especially if you think you want to dance to it). Lacy's voice doesn't exactly mesh with the production either in my opinion. His melodies seem off. Either he isn't performing them well or it is just not a pleasant-sounding combination with the instrumental. I do enjoy the catchy "ba-ba-ba" parts. It might take away from the impact of the trumpet a little bit, but it does sound good. I'm pretty torn on this track. It isn't going on my playlist, but it's not pissing me off either. I mentioned that I'm not an astrology expert, so I'm sure there is some element of this song that isn't hitting with me, but I do know what a Gemini is supposed to be. "You think I'm two-faced, I can name 23" is a good line that breaks the label of Geminis being two-faced. He is more than his sign. In fact, he's way more than just two faces. He's twenty-three different people. I like this line because it attempts to capture the complexity of human beings. The lyrics this far in the album aren't connecting with me very much, so I'm hoping there's more lines like this one.
4. "Butttons"
There's stuff I like about this song, but there's also stuff I don't. I really like the main melody that runs across the track with various instruments. The arrangement is really good as well. I say this because there is a lot of variation in the instrumental. Yes, that main melody goes the whole time, but instruments still come in and out, making the song dynamic from front to back. It's slow and feels like it's crawling in a cool way. The sound selection is unique and cohesive when combined. Again, his voice is what's throwing me off I think. It's not that he's singing badly, but it just doesn't work for me when it comes to this track. He sounds like a 2000's pop boyband singer or something. It's like he's trying too hard to hit the notes. It's also possible that I'm just tripping about this. Maybe it's what he's actually saying that doesn't work for me because he really doesn't say anything profound. In fact, it's pretty basic stuff. It's just a "love" song. He tells the story of them getting together and finding it hard to let go due to his pride. Ehhhhh you can keep this one Steve.
5. "Bad Habit"
This one is definitely the biggest track of the album (in terms of popularity). I've heard it before but didn't realize it was this one. It's actually really good. Easily the best song up until this point in the album. There are catchy melodies all over this thing as he hits notes in a variety of ranges. His voice works for this content too. It captures a child-like crush feeling of being into somebody but not making a move about it. It's a pretty universal phenomenon that I'm sure most of us can relate to. The song sounds like it's going to end at about two and a half minutes when Steve Lacy goes a cappella, but a cool new version of the beat starts up and goes until the end of the song. It's got a nice weird vocal chop thing going on along with the acoustic guitar and drums that tie it in with the first half. He also seems to be more confident in this second half as he says stuff like, "let's fuck in the back of the mall." Yea, he's a Gemini...I get it. It's double-sided...woah. I see why this one became popular though for sure. It sounds great.
6. "2Gether (Enterlude)" (Steve Lacy & Matt Martians)
Lasting less than a minute, this one has a sound to it that I actually really like. I honestly don't think Steve Lacy tries very hard when he writes his lyrics, but that's fine on tracks like this (ya know, because it's short). Matt Martians does vocals on here too I guess. It's nothing wild, but the vocals overall sound pretty good. It's an instrumental of piano and drums just kind of hitting on every downbeat. It sounds like a great intro for a song, but it just dies after a short amount of time. It's a little disappointing, but I guess I enjoyed it for what it is.
The first minute (which serves as the first verse) is frustrating because I like the background chords, but I don't like his vocals over them. I don't like the content really either. I don't understand why it's got "freestyle" in the title because it's clearly following a topic. He's talking about his past lovers, quite a few of them by name. I'm assuming this Cody guy is the intended audience, and Steve is frustrated with him because he doesn't want to commit to a real relationship (or something like that). The chords I mentioned earlier end up being the only sounds that play, but they increase in intensity as the song proceeds. I didn't like this at first, but I have a new perspective on it now. It continues to be frustrating through the whole song, reflecting Steve's ongoing frustration with Cody. I think I might like this song.
8. "Amber"
Swing! I love the swing feel to this one. There's bird noises (when he says "love birds"), piano, and cymbals. It sounds bright and lovely. There's also a swirly synth sound that adds a cool texture. Guitar comes in to help close out the song, but Steve almost ruins it with his extremely high singing (one note specifically hurt my ears). He didn't have to do all that, but sure. I feel the passion, even if it feels a bit forced. In fact, the singing is borderline bad for the entire song in my opinion. It's passible. I guess it's about an overwhelming interaction/relationship with who I assume to be Amber. "I wish I never met you," is the main lyric, but he means it in a good way of sorts. He's saying he wants to avoid the sensation he gets from her because it's too much for him to handle. Yea, it's an alright song. One of the better ones on the album I think. I personally would've switched up the instrumental a bit throughout the track but oh well. I'll go ahead and make this one the dark horse. It's different than the rest of the songs here, and that alone makes it stand out. Add the sound quality on top of that, and we've got ourselves a track that is good but won't be a hit.
This track is sweet actually. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't call it a dark horse because there's no way anybody sleeps on this one if they listen to the album. I especially enjoyed the Fousheé feature. Her and Steve Lacy have a good dynamic together, and I'm glad they both were on the song from start to finish instead of just having her do a single verse and be done. Instrumentally, it might be my favorite on the album. There's a ton of variation among a bunch of different instruments. Steve's go-to, guitar, is the main one, but the bass has it's own groove too. The drums are simple, but consistent with the rest of the album. Bird noises return at the end of the track. When the sunshine occurs, the birds wake up. It makes sense to me. Oh, and I like the content of this too. They're broken up, but still there for each other. They still have positive feelings and whatnot, but just decided not to be in a rrelationship. It's kind of summarized in one of Fousheé's lines: "Why can't we just get along, or at least let's get it on?" A nice electric guitar solo closes it out, and I couldn't be happier about it. Favorite song.
He should've given this song to Daniel Caesar. His vocals just aren't strong enough to carry this entire song alone. It doesn't particularly sound bad, but it's boring. My attention is not kept past the first minute or so, and there isn't nearly enough change in the instrumental. It's the same thing for four-and-a-half minutes. It'd be better if Steve kept my interest using his lyrics and his performance, but he couldn't do either one. I don't think I'll add the trash GIF here, but I am not impressed by this album closer at all.
Overall
This was quite the journey for me. I didn't like this album really at all the first time I heard it. I recognized the moments of talent, but nothing really clicked for me. Then, I liked it a lot the next few times I played it (usually in the background while I was doing something else). Once I started paying more attention to it though, it kind of fell off for me again. That was solidified when I decided to give it a formal review. There's a lot of potential here, but it kind of sounds unfinished. There's still work to be done on damn near every song, even the ones I like. If you couldn't tell, my main issue with this project is Steve Lacy himself. I didn't love his vocals. It's not what I expected going into this review, but I have to be honest about it. I still can't quite pin it down, but that's another element that holds a lot of these songs back for me. The production quality isn't a problem. In fact, it's unique enough that I might consider it the best part about the project. Everything can be heard clearly, but there's also something about the mix that makes the sounds blend together as if they're being played live. It isn't overproduced when it comes to sound design and mixing. However, I'd argue that it is underproduced when it comes to song arrangement and variation. Too often does Steve decide to put on a drum or guitar loop and let it play for the entire song. It gets old. You can really tell the difference between the songs he put a lot of work into and the ones that seemed like they were rushed.
As far as content goes, I also wasn't a huge fan. There wasn't a single lyric that blew me away. In fact, I found myself rolling my eyes more often than wanting to re-read the words. Everything was pretty surface-level love stuff. Conceptually, I don't think he really does anything special with the Gemini idea either. He mentions astrology stuff a few times, but there aren't any running themes. I guess he does sing about his bisexuality, and that could be tied into the two-sidedness of a Gemini. However, he doesn't make that connection clear or explore it in any significant way. He also literally says he has way more than two sides. He isn't being fake deep because he isn't trying to be deep at all. He's really just trying to tap into emotions, but he doesn't do a great job of that either. Overall, I didn't really like this album, but there are a couple gems on here. Is it worth a listen? Ehhh I wouldn't say so. Stick to the ones he makes music videos for. He's just a worse version of Kevin Abstract. If you like this album, you'd love Kevin's work.
4.3/10
If you've read my review, I assume you have already heard Gemini Rights, so I want to hear what you think. What'd I miss? Did I tear apart your favorite song? Or give too much credit to one that doesn't deserve it? Any questions or comments? I'd love to respond. Feel free to drop review requests too! I will strongly consider them (this one was a request).
Peace and love.
Comments