Seattle’s super producer/DJ/rapper/electronic musician/actor(?)/a key pioneer of Seattle’s underground music scene creation, Qreepz, finally released his first hip hop album with 8 songs under the name of Murcii Miller with his buddy and fellow Seattle artist, Bentley Browning. This is a much anticipated 2nd album of his own after pleasantly chaotic electronic album, Seance (by Qreepz) in 2015, though he released several singles. This is the first album for Bentley Browning.
Owning his own trademark sound is the best strength for Murcii Miller. No matter what genre the music is (and what name he uses), his sound doesn’t change.
Dark yet catchy and comical. Manic depressive yet heavenly. Thickly heavy yet sharply boosting. Chaotic yet organized. Those yin and yang are unbelievably concentrated in his sound. And many cool machine-gun beats with the mixture of heavy ass bass distortion sounds and old school video game beats like Space Invaders. His identity is beautifully reflected throughout this Lily of the Valley album. In this meaning, Lily of the Valley is similar to Seance. The difference is, other than genres and the speed of music (half of Lily of the Valley is slower than Seance), this album won’t see sunshine unlike Seance which finally saw horizon at last with the masterpiece “Wednesday”.
The cover artwork describes the album’s overall music well. The world is dark underground of Eden with burning crosses after Eve was exiled but also inviting with smoke. Lilies of the valley in the hell are suspicious as poisonous but also addictive. It’s yin/yang like Murcii’s sound. Initially feeling like being chanted a spell during spinning around with the high alcohol level with the first song “.16 BAC”, Bentley’s sticky voice slashes and tortures intoxicated body. Bentley’s voice is very sticky and creepy. This type of voice is divided into love or hate, but his voice is more attractive when it gets aggressive. His voice is needle-sharp at the height of aggression. Murcii’s aggressive rap skill vibrates the heavy and bouncy “D-B-M-R”. Headbangers friendly “Luv 2 Hate Me” is a heavy metal-ish anthem that guest singer TeZATalks’ mechanically coquettish voice rocks. A perfect idea to place this catchy song in the middle of the album, this positioning creates a good balance. Each sparking beat in the dark universe of music deserves to get attention on the title track. The female chorus makes the lilies of the valley notorious yet mysteriously beautiful. The listeners experience the last pleasant tortures with the killing beats and aggressive rhyming by both musicians with “Tom Brady” (Bently’s performance is two thumbs up with this song). Throughout the album, Murcii’s voice lays in the center range while Bentley’s runs between high and low like frequency. And Murcii’s cleaner, sing-along style takes relatively yang side and Bentley’s sticky devilish voice takes yin side.
This is not a hit-chart minded hip hop album though I sincerely wish this would go skyrocket in the chart. Not like commercially succeeded hip hop nowadays. Not gangsta or ghetto rap, but the intellectual art of untrendy underground hip hop is contained in this album from musically rich Seattle. This album is the double pleasure of cool rhyming and beats. It would get better if the sound is a little crisper.
RELEASE DATE (US): 04/24/2020
OVERALL POINTS: 93/100
- Songs: ★★★★+1/2
- Originality: ★★★★★
- Thrills: ★★★★★
- Song orders: ★★★★★
- Vocal: ★★★★
- Background: ★★★★★
- Sound: ★★★★
- Production: ★★★★+3/4
- Strong songs: “D-B-M-R”, “Luv 2 Hate Me”, “Lily of the Valley”, “Tom Bradly”
EXTRA (NOT COUNTED TOWARD THE OVERALL POINTS)
- Title: A
- Album cover: A++
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