Although Bryndon Cook shares his nickname with the alien introduced on
Parliament's
Mothership Connection and titles of later major recordings by
Level 42 and
Teena Marie,
Prince and the extended '80s Minneapolis funk family made the deepest impression on the young musician. After an uneven self-issued EP in 2012 and an auspicious eight-track Ghostly International release in 2016 -- as well as valued supporting roles for Dev Hynes and
Solange -- Cook moves forward with an album that bears specific and general likenesses to the Purple One and company. Through jittery synthesizers, programmed drums, and nervy libidinal energy,
Prince's "Delirious" and "I Would Die 4 U" in particular are recalled on "Hands Off" and "Lost Boys." The latter is one of several cuts that refers to intimate connections via landline, a recurring theme for
Prince that can be traced back at least as far as the
Dirty Mind era. Indeed, the album could be titled Telephone Blue. Cook is frequently by the phone or on it, desperately waiting for a call or dialing it to "Tell you you ain't actin' right." He projects qualities of an introverted and chivalrous
Morris Day, not a gigolo, just lonely. The songwriting, production, and vocal skills, as well as the sincerity and restraint, build from this common foundation without resembling the work of a showboating caricature. Cook's sources are primarily 1982-1985 with occasional diversions, like "Black Diamond," a horn-powered jam of adulation that sounds like the result of an imagined 1987 session with Madhouse. The throwbacks extend to that period in 1991, between the post-gangsta debuts of
Bell Biv DeVoe and
Jodeci, when the airwaves were filled with effervescent, harmony-rich hits by
Mint Condition and
Special Generation. Cook even prefers "baby" almost exclusively as a term of endearment and isn't one for objectification. Just as crucially, he uses the extremities of his vocal range and approaches, from anguished falsetto to electrified scream, to serve the song rather than his ego. ~ Andy Kellman