Artist: Sly Johnson
Album: 55.4
Genre: Neo-Soul, Funk
Label: BBE Music
Released: 2022
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Tracklist:
- Alive
- B.M.L. (Introduction) & Be My Lady (It's Been Too Long)
- Bullshit (I Can't Stand It No More)
- Trust Me
- Okay
- E.n.E. (Equality - Naturally - Eternally)
- Today
- Feel & May I Have This Dance (Interlude)
- E.V.R.B.D.D. 2
- What's Going On
- The H.B.D. Song (Souffle Tes Bougies)
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55.4 was made over a 55-day period in 2020 and was released as Sly Johnson's fourth solo album in 2022. Each of the three previous LPs exhibited many facets of the native Parisian who made a name for himself with human-beatbox specialists Saïan Supa Crew. This one sticks with the soul-steeped R&B and funk that partly characterized them, and rather than switch between bilingual rapping and singing, as he has in the past, Johnson almost exclusively sings here in English, making full use of his sweet, pleasantly acidic instrument. The commitment to a focused approach pays off. Johnson puts his songwriting in another gear, communicating in sharper detail, as always with an air of positivity, about liberation and oppression, upliftment and romantic devotion, and a bit of heartache (alleviated by hope and perseverance). It opens with crisp and neck-swinging hip-hop soul, then shifts into some of Johnson's funkiest work. A seething if clear-minded take on Sly & the Family Stone and D'Angelo-style funk a sonic descendent of There's a Riot Goin' On and Black Messiah is inserted between proposals and assurances that bounce, strut, and burn. That section is followed by a coasting part-machine slow jam that could be effective enough with sweet nothings, but Johnson's inclination to do more than simply set a scene is evident even here, concerning himself with self-examination and appreciation as much as seduction. The only featured appearance is from Jona Oak, a singer/songwriter who compatibly duets with Johnson on a song of grief and consolation built on a hypnotic, gospel-tinged rhythm that acts as a salve. There's also an imaginative version of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," but it's superfluous in the context of personal messages that are strong enough to stand on their own.
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