On his fourth
Boulevards album,
Jamil Rashad keeps backsliding
Jeffrey Daniel-style across the R&B timeline and pivots to do the cosmic slop. Where the Raleigh native's first couple LPs most frequently recalled sparkling post-disco R&B of the early '80s --
Daniel's
Shalamar were one of many reference points --
Electric Cowboy: Born in Carolina Mud builds on the '60s and '70s funk and soul moves of his third full-length. The 2020-issued
Brother! EP turns out to have been a prelude more than a stopgap. Those four songs were written and produced by
Rashad with
Blake Rhein (of
Durand Jones & the Indications), and
Rhein here is deeply involved, as is fellow multi-instrumentalist/producer
Colin Croom (of
Twin Peaks), while smaller roles are filled by other vintage-sound specialists who are either members or associates of acts such as
Black Pumas and
Yola.
Rashad is too lucid to be a truly spaced cowboy like
Sly Stone, and isn't as animated as
Bootsy Collins, but the work of those two artists -- and
Parliament-
Funkadelic -- clearly inform what
Rashad has on offer. This is altogether the grimiest and moodiest
Boulevards album with
Rashad and company somehow maintaining a high level of appeal. Also different from previous
Boulevards albums,
Rashad sings with restraint the whole time, giving each line an air of secrecy and/or seduction -- almost as if he's self-conscious about breaking an unreasonable noise ordinance. The approach is fitting, with
Rashad riding just above the warmly reverberant grooves and background voices to heady effect. ~ Andy Kellman
