Oh, Yuck in Bloomington, MN

So Much Light
is the solo project of Sacramento-area singer/songwriter/producer
Damien Verrett
. An avowed R&B fanatic who has named dropped such influences as
Drake
and
R. Kelly
,
Verrett
crafts highly inventive, electronic-based pop with a subtle but distinctive soul vibe. He also layers his productions with an ambitious level of acoustic and electric instrumentation, from guitars and keyboards to horns, strings, and the occasional harp; a choice that pushes the overall tone of his 2017 full-length debut,
Oh, Yuck
, into Baroque pop and indie rock territory. Helping
achieve this cross-genre aesthetic is co-producer
Jason Cupp
(
American Football
the Elected
Finch
). Given his softly emotive voice and penchant toward lilting, delicately melismatic vocalizations, it's easy to pick up on the contemporary R&B influence. Tracks like the quasar thumping "Little Fanfare," and the yearning, circus pipe organ inflected "Be Afraid" (which also features Chicago neo-soul vocalist
Nnamdi Ogbonnaya
), sound like hooky old-school soul jams if produced by
M83
's
Anthony Gonzalez
. And while there is a level of orchestral high-mindedness in many of the tracks on
(there's even an album-opening instrumental string fanfare courtesy of
Joan of Arc
Nate Kinsella
),
reveals himself as a die-hard loverman, not afraid to pull out words like "hella" on "Love That Never Fades," and launching into a quavering,
El DeBarge
-level falsetto on the slow jam ballad "Idiot Soul." Elsewhere,
invokes '80s-style new wave with cuts like the synth-buzzing "Summoner" and the pulsing "Let It Absorb You," both of which bring to mind similarly inclined contemporaries like
the Naked and Famous
Frankmusik
. Ultimately, as
's cheeky, ironic tile implies,
, is a delightfully unexpected musical melange that sticks with you long after you've stepped deep into its soulful goo. ~ Matt Collar