Review: DANIEL CAESAR – “Son Of Spergy”

Ashton Simmonds, aka Daniel Caesar, is not only an undisputed phenomenon: he is a man struggling with his own reflection.

With “Son of Spergy”, the fourth seal of a career more tormented than celebrated, Caesar strips himself of all glossy grace to wear vulnerability as the only possible truth.

If in previous works his pen had immersed itself in love relationships and introspections, here the focus is closer: the father, faith, guilt, redemption.

It is an album of atonement and disenchantment, an almost salvific album, which opens like a ritual with Rain Downgospell and suspended prayer with Sampha. The two exchange the refrain “Lord, let your blessings rain down on me”, between reverence and bewilderment. It's a hesitant, almost penitent start for an artist who still seems caught between self-exposure and escape.

In Have a Baby (With Me) Caesar isn't looking for love: he's dealing with an inheritance. “Have a baby with me,” she repeats, as if having children was the only way to survive her failure. It is a ruthless, almost biblical piece, in which the idea of ​​fatherhood becomes an act of defiance against time. In Call on Me with a sound approach similar to Lenny Kravitz he finds a tired sweetness, a sensuality filtered by disenchantment, while Baby Blue it opens in an orchestral finale that borders on a religious hymn, where the sacred and the carnal mix to the point of becoming confused.

Root of All Evil reveals its choral pop soul, while Moonfeaturing Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, is a cosmic confession, a dialogue between two fading consciences. The emotional peak comes with Touching Godin which Yebba and Blood Orange amplify desperation in a chorus that smells of surrender. No More Loving (On Women I Don't Love) with 656yf4t you have soft, nocturnal R&B traits and accompanies a Sins of the Father, again with Bon Iver, a song that closes the circle: seven minutes of self-analysis, anger and reconciliation, a song that scratches the soul more than it heals it.

Sonically, Caesar crosses the territories of contemporary soul and its most refined mutations — between gospel, R&B, chamber pop and almost folk minimalism. It is an intense and imperfect record, like whoever wrote it: less seductive than its predecessors, but more necessary. He does not seek redemption in others, but in himself.

The cover – a grainy portrait on a red background, marked by three mystical symbols – is his private icon: a manifesto of identity and faith, more intimate than aesthetic.

With “Son of Spergy”, Daniel Caesar does not ask to be understood, but to be believed. And in doing so, he rediscovers his most authentic voice: fragile, aware, stubborn.

SCORE: 7.50

TO LISTEN NOW

Rain Down (Ft. Sampha) – Baby Blue (Feat. Norwill Simmonds) – Sins Of The Feather (Feat. Bon Iver)

TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY

Just under an hour. A journey to be savored without haste!

TRACKLIST

Rain Down (Feat. Sampha)
Have A Baby (With Me)
Call On Me
Baby Blue (Feat. Norwill Simmonds)
Root Of All Evil
Who Knows
Moon (Feat. Bon Iver)
Touching God (Feat. Yebba & Blood Orange)
Sign Of The Times
Emily's Song
No More Loving (On Women I Don't Love) (Feat. 656yf4t)
Sins Of The Feather (Feat. Bon Iver)