After hearing the beat on Drake’s “Weston Road Flows” and finding out that the young artist who had created it was putting out their debut E.P, I knew that I had to give it a listen. Hearing it was familiar. The sound reminded me of the Drake track, but also of so many more that came before it. Smoky vocals and a muted beat carry through the album, with a few hints of something unique that manage to surface around the edges. Heavily inspired by recent trends in electronic music, the R&B infused beats ultimately fail to stand out as anything more than a novelty.

When the E.P kicks off, it does so strongly. A mysterious and almost sinister beat lights up the first track, raising your expectations for what is to follow. It is dark and brooding and really grabs your attention and forces you to pay attention. But for some reason, this sound is abandoned in the second track and is never capitalized upon, instead morphing into something much more generic. The beat fades into the background and the vocals dominate the sound for the rest of the (rather short) runtime. They sound great, but they change the feeling of the E.P away from the electro origins.

Due to this vocal dominance, it becomes really hard for the sound to differentiate itself from other sounds within the scene. As a purely electronic album, it’s average at best, failing to stand out amongst its peers. It is very clearly influenced by recent trends in “electrosoul” (I’m looking at you Weeknd), with it’s emphasis on the almost dreamy lyrics over the beat. And because of this, at a certain point, all I can hear is this influence, and not the original sound that I was hoping to hear from Stwo when I picked the E.P up.

For being an extremely short debut E.P, it is enjoyable to listen to. However, there is simply not enough “meat” for us to dig our teeth into to keep me satisfied. It is all style over substance, and the style quickly washes away under scrutiny. It has some interesting sounds, yet they fail to capitalize on any of them, giving us hints as to what the E.P could have been, and only leaving us disappointed. Enjoyable enough for an afternoon listen, but after that it will quickly be forgotten.

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Tags: Electrosoul, Stwo, Drake