Circle of Friendz - Human(z?)

Ok, so that was a minute. Haven't made anything resembling a proper blog post with proper structure since June 28th, when I tried cashing in on the hype of The Now Now with my own two cents on the album. Hopefully my writing chops, minimal as they are, haven't gotten weak. Back to business with the Circle of Friendz!

Who is this by? Rag'n'Bone Man
What did he do for Gorillaz? Sung on The Apprentice, found on the deluxe version of Humanz.
When was this released? February 10, 2016
Where was this recorded? somewhere in the UK during 2015-2016
Why is should you listen to this?
Rag'n'Bone is the most recent to the music scene of the artists I have covered thus far. Human is his debut, and so far only, full-length album. He also had some EPs, both solo and with collabs, but this is his first major outing. Damn, is it a great first impression! Speaking of great first impressions, the opening track Human certainly works as one for themes the album comes back to later. It's a song of, simply put, humanity. It's about how the narrator isn't some holy power that everyone can come to thinking that their problems can be solved, getting mad when he gets honest in his responses. This record seems to cycle through different parts of humanity, such has family on the tracks Life in Her Yet and Odetta and death in the tracks Lay My Body and Die Easy. The album seems the most focused on love and relationships, both ones that are failing or have failed like in Fade to Nothing or Skin or relationships that are on smoother waters like As You Are. I think this diversity in subject matter under the very basic premise of an album around humanity works well with the diversity in sound thanks to the several different producers. It all meshes well together for the most part, thanks to the almost divine voice of Rag'n'Bone Man. He's got this really deep, soulful voice that brings with it this power to each track. His vocals nail whatever emotion he's trying to envoke, be it loneliness, hope, anger or anything else. 

I will say however that I'm not big on the track Wolves. It's just an OK track, certainly not one of my favorites on this record but it's not untolerable. I just feel like it's darker sound doesn't quite fit inbetween the smoother sounds from the rest of the album, particularly the two tracks it sandwiches itself inbetween, Lay My Body and Healed. I wouldn't mind seeing Healed and Lay My Body switch places after removing Wolves. Healed could work as a good way to complete a character arc for the narrator, finding a light in darkness and feeling, well, healed! Lay My Body would still work as a reminder that no matter what, all humans have to pass on, some in darker ways than others like a suicide. Healed would be like the Good End to Lay My Body's Bad End, like in a visual novel where two different routes lead to different results. 

Even with this minor setback here, there's still a great album within this. So many great tracks about different parts of the human experience can be found here, and the instrumentals are all strong. Special props goes to Odetta, which gives me some Everyday Robots vibes from its beat (and it almost sounds like 2D is on backing vocals?) The effects on Skin are really cool in the first verse and bridge with that muffled effect to the instrumental. Be the Man is another one of my favorites here, having this really nice beat that doesn't leave your head and a nice message about having faith in a relationship to boot. He may just be a rag and bones, but he certainly has more than enough backbone and support to have a bright future ahead of him in the industry. I'll be cheering him on all the way.

I give Human by Rag'n'Bone Man a 9/10.