Since rising within the early 2020s as fresh-faced jazz phenoms with co-signs from Herbie Hancock, Snoop Dogg and Anderson .Paak, DOMi & JD BECK have possessed the kind of musical chemistry that borders on telepathy. Spend 5 minutes with the duo offstage and that a lot is apparent: BECK’s hyperactive enthusiasm ricochets off DOMi’s bone-dry wit with the convenience of two Gen Z-ers who’ve lengthy since developed their very own language. On their sophomore LP for ,Paak’s Apeshit label via Blue Word, WHO ASKED?, that personal dialog turns into more and more troublesome for outsiders to decipher. Fortunately, it’s rewarding to even attempt.
If 2022’s NOT TiGHT usually felt like an exhilarating demonstration of unattainable chops, its follow-up is extra inquisitive about composition than spectacle. Opener “ÉPiPHANiE” establishes the temper with fluttering woodwinds, Steve Reich-like piano figures and acrobatic strings, functioning much less as an overture than an invite right into a realm the place melodies arrive sideways and rhythms nearly by no means keep put.
The vocal-heavy first half of WHO ASKED? can often blur collectively, however particular person moments linger. The disarming “GROWiNG OLDER” pairs one of many file’s strongest melodies with lyrics that quietly reckon with time’s passage (“days cascading out of sight / youthful methods like fleeting gentle”), whereas its heartbeat-like bass line and slippery groove reveal a stunning emotional directness beneath all of the rhythmic sleight of hand. Likewise, “SMALL EYES” seems to be an totally honest ode to a beloved pet — a delightfully uncool premise remodeled into one of the crucial musically intricate songs ever written about unconditional animal affection.
Elsewhere, “LOVELY MASQUERADE” sharpens right into a not-so-veiled critique of the fashionable music trade canine and pony present, its faux-cheerful chorus ultimately giving strategy to a head-spinning last minute of distorted synth bass and BECK’s explosively bodily drumming. “PUZZLE PiECES” solutions with real tenderness, wrapping lyrics about friendship and religion in each other round glitchy electronics that in some way make the sentiment really feel much more earned.
There are solely three instrumentals right here in comparison with 10 on the debut, however they’re all superlative. The dazzling “CONCERTiNO (FOR PiANO, DRUMS & ORCHESTRA)” ricochets from chamber music to IDM with gleeful abandon, whereas “ÉPiLOGUE” closes on a woodwind-led dash that appears like the right musical portrait of DOMi and JD themselves: playful, impossibly virtuosic and ceaselessly chasing the following left flip earlier than you’ve barely processed the final one.
On an LP the place key adjustments can really feel like trapdoors and grooves appear to exist in dimensions simply adjoining to strange time, DOMi & JD BECK are now not content material to easily amaze you. Fairly, they wish to lure you into their world — and belief you’ll discover your footing therein, ultimately…
