<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal;mso-outline-level:1″><span style="
Times New Roman” ,”serif”;mso-fareast-times=”” new=”” roman”;=”” mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:es-bo”=””>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal”>
The Nothing is a smart, subtle and cohesive album that suits Polygon’s always formidable flow. He clearly has bought into the Clams Casino mode of hazy hip-hop production, and it’s a smart choice; his voice has always moved like oil in vinegar, and the beats now properly complement that.
Opener “Purple Mess” is a blurry, heartfelt ballad that showcases Polygon’s unexpectedly strong falsetto over a delicate, synthetic track that swings like a spider web in the wind. The supremely blunty “Normal” follows, with Polygon lighting up and then lighting things up with a texturally rich melody that feels like a re-imagined take on Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange. A spaghetti-Western guitar strum opens up “Whoa Is Me” before erupting into a sultry bedroom burner.
“Brainpowder” snarls like an Odd Future track done with a shred of restraint, as does its counterpart, “Lovesick (Super Nintendo).” The bass-heavy “Kosher” and washed-out “Magenta” anchor The Nothing’s closing act.
With rappers like Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q making smart, soulful hip-hop hip again, one hopes Polygon finds the fame he well deserves, although he states more than once — in true Oklahoma fashion — that he could take it or leave it.
Download The Nothing and see him live with Pac Div and Kneighborhood at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Kamps 1310 Lounge, 1310 N.W. 25th. —Joshua Boydston
Hey! Read This:
• Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d City album review
This article appears in Mar 6-12, 2013.