Recorded collaboratively between the respective residences of 18+'s Justin (Berlin) and Samia (Honolulu), the duo's second album Collect — the followup to their well-received 2014 debut, Trust — feels unfinished, incomplete, some tracks so sparse they come across as the bare bones of demos with monotone, melancholic rapping slung across the frames of the songs. Combined with their play on the name 18+ and the lowbrow, juvenile nature of some of the songs, it all makes for an album that's difficult to take seriously.
Tracks like "Wet Blunt" — with such thought-provoking lyrics as "If you ain't depressed, then you probably dumb / You could probably choke you're so full of cum" — are the rule rather than the exception here, 18+ pandering to an audience with little want or need of lyrical depth or wit. Single "Drama" is the only redeeming track on the album, with nuanced, looped vocal hooks and layered production, and it stands in stark contrast to the album's other offerings. Collect is a disappointing outing, especially given the potential their first album showed.
(Houndstooth)Tracks like "Wet Blunt" — with such thought-provoking lyrics as "If you ain't depressed, then you probably dumb / You could probably choke you're so full of cum" — are the rule rather than the exception here, 18+ pandering to an audience with little want or need of lyrical depth or wit. Single "Drama" is the only redeeming track on the album, with nuanced, looped vocal hooks and layered production, and it stands in stark contrast to the album's other offerings. Collect is a disappointing outing, especially given the potential their first album showed.