Atavista in Bloomington, MN

After the brilliant throwback masterpiece
"Awaken, My Love!"
and the moment-defining "This Is America,"
Donald Glover
could have traded in his critical and cultural cachet for cash by shooting for the mainstream and cranking out more tracks guaranteed to follow in those giant footsteps. Luckily, for anyone who likes their pop stars weird and unpredictable, the 2020
Childish Gambino
record
3.15.20
is an expansive, mind-bending trip that never takes an expected step. Over a two-year span,
Glover
and a team that included
DJ Dahi
and long-time collaborator
Ludwig Göransson
tweaked the songs as they experimented with sound and structure. The end result is a challenging, hooky, mysterious, and odd record that feels like it was built out of pieces left over from a collision between
OutKast
,
David Bowie
Sly & the Family Stone
, and
Prince
. Add in bits borrowed from
Flaming Lips
Tyler, The Creator
Lee Perry
, and it's a mad scientist's take on modern pop with
at the middle alternately crooning with honey-dipped sweetness, rapping menacingly, crying out in pain, and craftily telling tales. Turns out it was also only a first draft
almost half-heartedly released. In 2024, he re-released the record under the name
Atavista
with a new mix and a shuffled tracklist that drops "Feels Like Summer" and two other songs, while adding two songs (the synth-driven, mid-tempo lite-pop title track and the highly-caffeinated, heavily rhythmic "Higher Language") and a couple new guest appearances. The shuffling doesn't change the overall sound of the album much, though on the whole it sounds more carefully contrusted and less like a dark night of the soul kind of album. One thing is exactly the same and that's the degree of imagination and ingenuity that's gone into the construction of every inch of every song.
and team never stick to one idea when two or three would make things more interesting and they constantly try and pull off seemingly bonkers dares. Why not mix a totally hooky chorus with a frightening, growled robo-rap ("Algorithm") or use the catchiest tune since "Chicken Noodle Soup" to tell the harrowing tale of a young drug dealer ("Little Foot. Big Foot")? Why not take a drifting, outer space ballad that would have fit nicely on
Primal Scream
's
Screamadelica
("Time") and add the vocals of one of the biggest pop stars alive in
Ariana Grande
? How about a seven-minute drug trip/seduction track ("Psilocybae (Millennial Love)") rapped by a sped-up
in gleefully rambling fashion or a stomping synth pop track that sounds like it was extracted from a broken four-track hidden in
's vault ("To Be Hunted")? Maybe the chillest, sexiest -- but still troubled -- song ("Sweet Thang") could feature
running his voice through a computer first, then a shredder before the whole thing bursts into heavenly chimes or the could end with a scathing, funk jam where he twists his voice into falsetto pretzels and screams over a ghostly gospel choir ("Final Church"). It all makes sense somehow, and even though
is on about a hundred different trips at once, they all lead back to his heavy heart and troubled soul. Some of the record is funny, some is sad, and some is harrowing, but everything dazzles in some way and shows off his growing skill as a sonic ringleader who's never afraid to take a flying leap into the unknown. So many people in his place regularly go for the safe landing, but
is fearless and definitely not afraid to fall flat in the quest for something new or real.
definitely fit both those bills and the new, improved
does too and is the second (and/or third) classic, timeless, and timely
record in a row. ~ Tim Sendra