To hear him tell it,
Son Little (aka
Aaron Livingston) wrote and recorded 2022's
Like Neptune during an especially difficult time in his life. He had holed up in a cabin in upstate New York to work on songs when he started going through a box of old notebooks, some going back to when he was nine. Reading his journals triggered memories of some painful episodes in his past, including experiencing sexual abuse when he was a child.
Little was working through his past trauma with the help of a therapist, and he found himself responding to the internal voice in his mind, whom he recognized as a ten-year-old boy. Very little of this is on the surface of the songs on
Like Neptune, but the knowledge certainly puts a different spin on the lyrics. Is the person he's addressing in songs like "6 AM," "deeper," and "Playing Both Sides" a lover, a friend, or maybe the inner child whose pain and disappointment have been a burden through much of his life? Is he angry at them, or is he frustrated with himself? And can all the songs be read through this filter, or does this only apply to a few tracks?
Little doesn't address these matters directly on
Like Neptune, though he isn't shy about letting the gravity of his emotions show. His vocals on these songs speak of both pain and confidence, a desire to move out of the shadows and into the sun, and a keen understanding of love and betrayal in equal measure. If this makes
Like Neptune sound emotionally heavy, it is, but it's also a well-crafted and smartly entertaining piece of work.
Little produced the album and played nearly all the instruments himself, and the sound is spare in all the right ways, with the instrumentation never taking any more space than is its due, serving the storytelling and the sweet, deep character of his voice very well while putting subtle, potent grooves just where they should be in the arrangements. His singing is most strongly informed by the vintage soul and R&B that's always been his bread and butter, but the music is much more strongly beholden to contemporary R&B and hip-hop, rooted in grooves that are contemporary while still connected to their old-school roots. You can listen to this record for well-composed grooves or an insight into
Little's past and future and get what you paid for either way.
Like Neptune offers a glimpse into one man's heart and soul while reminding us how he got where he is today, and it's an impressive LP from an artist who has some stuff to get off his chest and can still powerfully entertain as he does so. ~ Mark Deming
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