So Much Light is the solo project of Sacramento-area singer/songwriter/producer Damien Verrett. An avowed R&B fanatic who has named dropped such influences as
Drake and
R. Kelly, Verrett crafts highly inventive, electronic-based pop with a subtle but distinctive soul vibe. He also layers his productions with an ambitious level of acoustic and electric instrumentation, from guitars and keyboards to horns, strings, and the occasional harp; a choice that pushes the overall tone of his 2017 full-length debut,
Oh, Yuck, into Baroque pop and indie rock territory. Helping Verrett achieve this cross-genre aesthetic is co-producer
Jason Cupp (
American Football,
the Elected,
Finch). Given his softly emotive voice and penchant toward lilting, delicately melismatic vocalizations, it's easy to pick up on the contemporary R&B influence. Tracks like the quasar thumping "Little Fanfare," and the yearning, circus pipe organ inflected "Be Afraid" (which also features Chicago neo-soul vocalist
Nnamdi Ogbonnaya), sound like hooky old-school soul jams if produced by
M83's
Anthony Gonzalez. And while there is a level of orchestral high-mindedness in many of the tracks on
Oh, Yuck (there's even an album-opening instrumental string fanfare courtesy of
Joan of Arc's
Nate Kinsella), Verrett reveals himself as a die-hard loverman, not afraid to pull out words like "hella" on "Love That Never Fades," and launching into a quavering,
El DeBarge-level falsetto on the slow jam ballad "Idiot Soul." Elsewhere, Verrett invokes '80s-style new wave with cuts like the synth-buzzing "Summoner" and the pulsing "Let It Absorb You," both of which bring to mind similarly inclined contemporaries like
the Naked and Famous and
Frankmusik. Ultimately, as Verrett's cheeky, ironic tile implies,
Oh, Yuck, is a delightfully unexpected musical melange that sticks with you long after you've stepped deep into its soulful goo. ~ Matt Collar