It’s been three years since we’ve heard from Solange Knowles. Last week, she dropped the album we’ve all been waiting for, “When I Get Home.” In this quick album, there’s funk, there’s keyboards, there’s soul — it’s all so satisfying, it’s a complete and true album from the heart.
Over three days starting on Feb. 26, Solange released a series of posts on her social media accounts before announcing the release of her album. Solange then released a 33-minute short film of the same name, available only on Apple Music.
This 19-track album features songs that end and seamlessly transition into the next song, the whole way through to create an artistic experience of one way, sit down and enjoy album.
The presentation of the tracklist is a black, simple, organic piece that has small, white renderings and drawings of what could be the blueprints for a machine or space craft. Whatever it is, the minimal look of the designs and colors just have you staring in awe.
The teaser trailer, released on her social media platforms a day before the album dropped, features women of color dancing over audio clips from her album, the first and longest shows a synchronized dance, putting the viewer in a spellbinding trance.
This album has a sort of healing art to it — with its new jazz and soul fusion that sets itself apart from other chart toppers today. The album includes synthy sounds recognizable from the ‘70s and ‘80s and a strong yet subtle, rich jazz love.
The intro song, “Things I Imagine,” is her repeating the lines, “Saw things I imagined / I saw things I imagined / things I imagined.” The repeating lines may seem annoying at first, but it is a perfect, magical intro song that gets the groove going immediately and acts as a transition into the the second track, “S McGregor (Interlude).”
Knowles brings back her affinity for interludes, as seen from “A Seat at the Table”, with five songs titled interlude and one titled intermission. Not surprisingly, she manages to fit the interludes and transitions in all the right places.
Intermissions are usually dramatic shifts in the album, cutting it in half and moving from one sound to another. The intermission in “When I Get Home” wasn’t as apparent as in other artists’ albums and the rest of the songs weren’t too different from the first half of her album. But this isn’t like other albums. “We Deal With The Freak’n (Intermission),” is a spoken word from sex guru Alexyss K. Tylor talking about the godliness of women. “We are not only sexual beings, we are the walking embodiment of god consciousness,” Tylor says.
This album is very simple in terms of lyrics and instrumental and because the songs are on the shorter side; it is a very quick album to listen to.
There is no title track song, or any song that really stands out. Each song represents the single being of the album, which is what makes this “real music” a “real album.” All the songs are meant to represent a single theme which circles around Black girl empowerment seen in current action.
“When I Get Home” brings the listener to a euphorical, dream-like state of mind. Solange, with her honey-like voice, sings sweet, simple words and melodies that could make anyone melt in place. Each song is carefully curated based on the story she is trying to tell (starting from “Seat at the Table”), and better than the last thanks to her production team which include, Steve Lacy, Pharrell, Tyler the Creator, Metro Boomin, Solange herself and multiple others.