Nothing In-Between Us: A Muse In Her Feelings Album Review
By Carter Fife
It has been almost three years since dvsn released their sophomore studio record Morning After. After their world tour in 2018, the OVO Sound duo comprised of vocalist Daniel Daley and producer Nineteen85 were immediately back in the studio, hard at work preparing their newest record. After releasing a few singles over the past few months and keeping details to a minimum, A Muse In Her Feelings finally released earlier this month. Unfortunately, many fans realized that this album may not have been worth the long wait they endured.
A Muse In Her Feelings sees the Canadian duo churning out sensual and glamorously-produced R&B anthems over the course of just under an hour. The record provides distinct moments that harken back to their previous projects, with many of the tracks (like the powerful opener ‘No Good’ which finds our heroes more dejected than usual) sounding like they could have been left over from early recording sessions for their 2016 debut SEPT 5th. Other tracks that carry a slower and more acoustic feeling to them (like the impressively serene ‘Pray For You’) sound like they could be B-Sides from their last record. If one were to collect all the tracks that break new ground for the group, one would be staring at only 5-6 tracks. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, as even though the majority of the album shares many sonic similarities with dvsn’s music that preceded it, the music is still made incredibly well with powerful vocal and production efforts from two of the industry’s best. Even if one were to be disappointed that this record does not have a complete musical shift, like the one seen between dvsn’s first two records, there is no denying the talent and allure of this album as a whole.
Where dvsn breaks new ground, they find themselves actually diverging into two totally separate realms within their perfected area of R&B. The first realm is admittedly the safer one, as heard on tracks like ‘Friends’ featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR., and “Flawless’ Do It Well, Pt. 3’ with Summer Walker. It is here that dvsn strays into the conventional and pop-oriented side of R&B, with powerful kicks and mechanical hi-hats dominating the percussion tracks of each song. While ‘Friends’ is more reserved and melancholic meditation on love, ‘Flawless’ is a powerful and outspoken anthem that could just as easily be a club hit as it could be a track one listens to on the way home. ‘For Us’ is another track like this, and with it comes perhaps my favorite mix that dvsn has created since I became a fan years ago. While the song starts out as soft and low-fidelity, it evolves into a 90’s-esque power-ballad with production that sounds like an insane mix between House of Balloons-era The Weeknd and The Backstreet Boys.
The second realm they stray into is more subversive- as they borrow from reggae and dancehall styles on tracks like ‘Dangerous City’ with the legendary Buju Banton and Ty Dolla $ign, and ‘So What’ featuring Popcaan. ‘Dangerous City’ carries a unique combination of dvsn’s intoxicating heavy R&B style with Jamaican reggae, and the instrumental sounds like something one would find on a Matisyahu album, but why Ty Dolla $ign was included on the track is a bit of a mystery. His presence doesn’t detract from the song, though the choice to pair him with Banton is certainly a strange one. ‘So What’ does what many artists have tried to do: properly harness Popcaan’s incredible talent and delivery without trying to hop on a trend or a wave. This track rhythmically aligns much more closely with dancehall music than most of the other songs Popcaan has been featured on over the past several years, and his performance with dvsn was well-done with the timbre of his deep voice contrasting well with Daley’s. It would be great if fans got more tracks like this, or like ‘Keep It Going’, a song that plays with several musical styles and has one of the most unique vocal performances on the record. It should be said, however, that it is a bit odd to have 3 partly reggae/dancehall songs on a record that is majority trap-influenced R&B.
The biggest problem with this record is that the incredible 2019 single ‘In Between’ was replaced with a remix featuring Snoh Aalegra. The original was a minimalistic, and shimmering acoustic banger that sounded like the lovechild between Jodeci and N*SYNC, so it was a shame it was it was replaced by a weird radio-friendly track featuring a poor performance by a guest vocalist. This is fairly easy to forgive as dvsn was likely trying to capitalize off of the hype from that single, and it is not hard to simply delete the newer version from one’s library.
Although A Muse In Her Feelings does not musically reinvent the wheel, it is still a solid album with close to an hour’s worth of content for every dvsn and R&B fan alike. There is a little bit of something for everyone, and though I wish the OVO duo would have doubled down on their newer dancehall-inspired music, I am still satisfied with what we were given. Was it worth the 3 year wait? Maybe not, and not to sound like an apologist, but few albums are. A Muse In Her Feelings has certainly given me plenty of songs to add to my current rotation, and I am excited to see how this record grows on me in the coming months.
Favorite Tracks
No Good
Keep it Going
For Us
Rating: 7
Listen to A Muse In Her Feelings here:
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