Given its look and timing -- issued exactly five years after T R A P S O U L, a deluxe edition of which preceded it by a week --
A N N I V E R S A R Y does not appear to be designed as a work of distinct identity. Whereas
Bryson Tiller has spoken of his inclination to be a shadowy figure, the singer/rapper's 2015 debut continues to cast a large shadow with a different effect, preventing his successive output from being taken on its own terms. This set's makeup certainly suggests that the artist is OK with it, as he serves up mostly downcast verses and boastful non-sequiturs over torpid booming rhythms.
Tiller works with a crew of new and familiar collaborators, and on "Outta Time" calls in major reinforcements, swapping brooding reflections with
Drake, backed by sympathetic production from
Nineteen85, Vinylz, and Noah "40" Shebib. More deserving of heavy rotation is "Inhale," a seductive warping of the '90s R&B-sampling methodology that's as much a part of
Tiller's sound as the rattling percussion. ~ Andy Kellman