Why haven’t I been listening to Bilal this entire time? I feel like I’ve been had. I realize this is due in part to Bilal falling prey to a dispute with Interscope that saw his sophomore album shelved indefinitely, so his solo career has been bit dormant for most of the last decade. Now that he’s freed from that burden and on independent label Plug Research, hopefully he can just go out there and make music and reach the appropriate audience. With his first album, he got labeled as “neo-soul,” but I don’t think that does justice to a unique talent like Bilal. This music is plenty soulful, but it’s also strange. Not inaccessible, but definitely weird. There are elements of free jazz and classical and glitch and IDM sprinkled throughout the album to really challenge the listener.

From the opening track, “Cake & Eat It Too,” I knew I was in for a journey. Bilal has a knack for finding melodies that are out of the ordinary, yet stay with you. “Cake” works with a disjointed synthesizer line and jerky snare hits are paired with the calming rhythm guitar and smooth soulful vocal harmonies. Bilal also has an amazing combination of lyrics and vocals.

The closing track, “Think It Over,” is one of the simpler songs on the album in terms of song structure. It starts with a gentle drum shuffle and acoustic guitar, but then builds varied layers and motifs that add all sorts of color. It stays with you, but not in the way a looped chorus does. It remains in your head but it allows you to explore musical possibilities in your mind, which is quite a feat.

His voice is incredibly powerful, and he possesses an impressive range. He never overdoes it, though, and he picks interesting melody lines. If I was going to compare his vocals to anyone, I’d say he recalls Prince or Curtis Mayfield working with someone like Kate Bush. Lyrically, he’s not necessarily tackling new subject matter for soul music, namely relationships, but he does manage to do so while not sounding trite and cliché.

While I’m sad that Bilal stayed on the shelf for so long, I’m glad our paths have intersected. He appears to want to make music that will inspire his listeners, not pander to them. Because of this decision, the music doesn’t lose vitality upon review. There are so many dense ideas to unpack and so many unexpected twists in the melodies and instrumentation that it rewards greatly upon multiple listens. I’ve been listening to it nonstop since I received it, and I feel like there is still so much to discover. This is definitely among my favorite releases of the year.