The record is stacked with 12 songs in lo-fi definition, sometimes clanging against each other, theatrical in its sweeping upheaval and an intimate snapshot of his staunch personal identity. Songs like “Invitation,” “Try It” and “Safari” lurch briskly from his lips, often exchanging digestible pop for inky drama. Elsewhere, there is simple beauty and rawness in “Armour,” decorated with brassy horns, and the piano balled “In a Different Way.” Later, on “Dinner’s Getting Cold,” he delights in sexy saxophone and funky phrasing. “I’m sick of sadness,” he avows over top plunky piano and a tense percussion line. “Nothing Stays the Same” is a dreamy piano-based ode, rather dark and gloomy, as he drifts from his youth to suffering the loss of a part of his soul. It’s an apt bookend to his journey, which wields a certain echo, a soft reminder of his storied past.

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-Jason Scott

B-Sides & Badlands