CHANCE デラソウル - Afterparty Review

ALIVE & REELING AFTER A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

In reality, I should've reviewed Chance デラソウル's self-titled over Afterparty, for it's better and in all likelihood the A-side to this thematic cutting room floor. That is not to say this nonstop rendezvous doesn't entertain from start to finish; quite the contrary. As its name suggests, Afterparty carries with it the weight of one last hooray. A celebration of an era come to pass. Hinted at, of course, by 2020's Goodbye Future Funk and an inspired self-titled, Chance デラソウル's career as Future Funk lynchpin may, voluntarily, be coming to an end. Or he's just trolling us. Hell, there's even a song here titled 'The End' which, apart from being Afterparty's worst due to its sluggish movements and sample depletion, strays heavily from Chance's formal routines. It is the only one of its kind, as Daedelus' Instrumental Hip-Hop comes to mind.

But the rest is pure, boastful bliss. There's the tongue-in-cheek pair of 'I Used To Make Vaporwave' butted against 'I Still Do,' wherein the latter soars through Disco ecstasy using Japanese City Pop samples. It's a barrage of dance floor movement, matched in intensity by other standouts 'Want To Be Free' and 'The Day We Die.' Of course, we can't go without some Avalanches influence, as the carrying energy from the intro into 'Music That You Feel' moves as fluidity as some of Since I Left You's best transitions. Sure, there's some party fatigue here and there, namely when repetition takes hold ('Got It,' 'Instant'), but the swift pacing and brief tracklist tip toe that line before exhaustion takes over. This ain't a DJ Sabrina end of the line endurance run, rather a wind sprint before the club lets out. Fitting then, that closer 'Needing You' - arguably Afterparty's best - is a high octane celebration with hotfoot percussion and coffee-addicted sampling. On the whole, Chance デラソウル doesn't present anything new here, but when one's comfort zone is so precise and so affable, you can't help but fall into those innate pleasures.