Canadian R&B singer and songwriter, Ashton Simmonds, also known as his stage name, Daniel Caesar, released his fourth album, “Son of Spergy,” on Oct. 25. The work delves into religious undertones, personal testimonies and Caesar’s relationship to his father.
The album begins with the song “Rain Down” featuring Sampha. The song consists of piano as the main instrument, with gospel-like choir as the main vocal source. The choir makes the climax of the song feel ethereal and prepares the listener for the rest of the album’s gospel feel choices. The song sounded great, but it had an interlude-esque feel to it throughout which makes it hard to add replay value to it. There weren’t many lyrics to the song, just repetition of the lyric, “Rain down, oh, rain on me, your blood is all I need.”
“Root Of All Evil” is the outlier in song styles throughout the album with its upbeat tone, contrasting softer songs on the album such as “Who Knows” and “Moon.” The song is very beat heavy and has a satisfying guitar track backing it, making the song sound very mellow and jovial. My favorite lyrics from the song are the first few being, “What have I done? What should I do?/Forces of evil pull me away from you.” The lyrics paired with spiritual undertones allowed me to really resonate with this set of lyrics spiritually. Caesar continues to explain how this “evil” isn’t leading him anywhere good and wants to change.
My favorite song of the album, “Sign Of The Times,” speaks to Caesar’s struggles with sins in his life. The song is broken up into two parts, with the first being slower with lyrics hinting at Caesar conversing with a pastor or minister about how God speaks through sin. The second part is a testimony sharing a story about a car crash and questioning what he can gather from that experience. The second half has a primary violin back track which crescendos through to the end of the song. I really enjoyed the transition period between the two halves of the song, as it allowed for a smooth turning of time signatures and key signatures.
One of my favorite tidbits about the album is the fact that Caesar and fellow musician Mustafa the Prophet took a trip to Jamaica to research the project and wove in sounds recorded from their time in the country. This idea is most notable in the transition from the final song, “Sins Of The Father,” to the first song, “Rain Down.” When the listener turns on loop and listens to the album in full, the sounds of Jamaica go full circle.
The overarching theme of speaking to both his heavenly father and his biological father, is achieved well in this album. I had extremely high expectations for this album with Daniel Caesar being one of, if not, my favorite artist of all time. These expectations were exceeded with this beautiful project and the religious aspect throughout made me connect with the project even more. There aren’t any songs on this project that are skip worthy, so I would give this album a 5/5.
