This EP marks the end of the last year of music from The Neighbourhood, starting last September with the Hard, followed by To Imagine, and most recently with their self titled album (click on any of the names to read my reviews for each release). When you put the names of the releases together, the titles come together to say "Hard To Imagine The Neighbourhood Ever Changing". In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, the band talked about how they wanted the releases to create a sentence that made a statement & how they staggered their new music over three EPs and a LP to keep momentum going. I have to say, it's been effective - I've been listening to the band a lot over the last year, both their newer and older material.
With the entire set of music out now, I've been taking time to look at it as a whole unit, a complete piece, instead of each individual release. This latest chapter for the band has definitely seen them flexing their range of sounds and vibes, and what defines them as a group. I think that a lot of casual listeners who mostly know of The Neighbourhood from their breakout single, "Sweater Weather" would find themselves very surprised to come back to this release and see what the band is doing now. This comes back to my post about Mac Miller, and the idea of putting artists in these boxes and being surprised when they don't conform to it. For example; in 2014, the band put out a mixtape, titled #000000 & #FFFFFF (which are the HEX codes for black and white), which featured many rappers and hip-hop sounds - much like Ever Changing. It's a very natural progression, listening to the mixtape and then hearing their latest EP - but if you were outside of that knowledge, it might seem like a weird leap. But it most definitely makes sense for the band, being comfortable territory for them. I definitely have a lot of respect for the band in terms of the scope and vision that went into this series of releases - they decided to try something different
Now, the features on this release are a bit different than the band's last foray into rap. I knew who most of the guest artists were (G-Eazy, YG, Dej Loaf, French Montana), whereas with Ever Changing, I only knew of Ghostface Killah (thanks to Fort Minor). To be honest, I think the features were some of the weaker aspects of the songs - IDK and Nipsey Hussle specifically. Their verses felt flat and unimaginative and both sounded (in their own ways) like Eminem copycats, with IDK being the biggest offender.
On the other hand, Denzel Curry did very well on the first song of the release, "Kill Us All"; the song has a mix of 90's rap vibes and modern alternative, and Curry's West Coast style fits in perfectly. Ghostface brings a similar strength to "Beat Take 1", which is on the opposite spectrum from "Kill Us All", with a slower pace, more chilled-out vibe, that has a hint something more serious. The only song on the release without a feature, "Paradise" is a stand out track - both for the change in tone and the quality. It's a glimpse of the band that most people are used to, which while I understand their desire to push their boundaries, I find myself most drawn to this track out of them all.
This EP, to me, felt like the most scattered of the releases for this era of The Neighbourhood. That's not saying that it's bad - I think that it's a really different move for the band, and I very much respect that. The overall release is definitely enjoyable, even if I'm not a fan of all the individual songs. It's a fitting end for this series from the band - it shows their courage to be themselves as artists and not to worry about the notions and ideas that people have of them. Definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 3/5
Recommended: "Paradise", "Kill Us All (feat. Denzel Curry)", "Beat Take 1(feat. Ghostface Killah)"
Now, the features on this release are a bit different than the band's last foray into rap. I knew who most of the guest artists were (G-Eazy, YG, Dej Loaf, French Montana), whereas with Ever Changing, I only knew of Ghostface Killah (thanks to Fort Minor). To be honest, I think the features were some of the weaker aspects of the songs - IDK and Nipsey Hussle specifically. Their verses felt flat and unimaginative and both sounded (in their own ways) like Eminem copycats, with IDK being the biggest offender.
On the other hand, Denzel Curry did very well on the first song of the release, "Kill Us All"; the song has a mix of 90's rap vibes and modern alternative, and Curry's West Coast style fits in perfectly. Ghostface brings a similar strength to "Beat Take 1", which is on the opposite spectrum from "Kill Us All", with a slower pace, more chilled-out vibe, that has a hint something more serious. The only song on the release without a feature, "Paradise" is a stand out track - both for the change in tone and the quality. It's a glimpse of the band that most people are used to, which while I understand their desire to push their boundaries, I find myself most drawn to this track out of them all.
This EP, to me, felt like the most scattered of the releases for this era of The Neighbourhood. That's not saying that it's bad - I think that it's a really different move for the band, and I very much respect that. The overall release is definitely enjoyable, even if I'm not a fan of all the individual songs. It's a fitting end for this series from the band - it shows their courage to be themselves as artists and not to worry about the notions and ideas that people have of them. Definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 3/5
Recommended: "Paradise", "Kill Us All (feat. Denzel Curry)", "Beat Take 1(feat. Ghostface Killah)"
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