SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CHILDISH GAMBINO – BRANDO STONE AND THE NEW WORLD

CHILDISH GAMBINO
BRANDO STONE AND THE NEW WORLD
RCA RECORDS

For his fifth and supposedly final album before retiring from music entirely or simply the Childish Gambino moniker, Donald Glover has released Brando Stone And The New World. The album is the second official release from Childish Gambino of the year, following the release of Atavista, the reissued version of 2020’s 3.15.20.

Brando Stone And The New World opens with “H3@RT$ W3RE M3@NT T0 F7¥”, an ambient soundscape cut short by an abrupt beat reminiscent of classic Kanye West with Glover rapping through pitch shifted vocals delivered in a higher register to counter the bass heavy horn synths. As the second half of the song comes around, Glover’s vocals come through directly to a powerful effect – it is immediately clear that Glover, while renowned as an artist, remains underrated as an MC. The album continues with the lead single, “Lithonia”, a rock track that hits with the momentum of a crashing wave; however, after the novelty of the thrashing distortion wore off, I was left longing for the abrasive and experimental hip-hop of the previous song. The push and pull between Childish Gambino, the rapper, and Childish Gambino, the visionary is evermore apparent on Brando Stone And The New World, perhaps more so now than ever before.

Across the 17 songs, Glover touches upon a vast array of styles. From electronic pop (“Survive”), indie rock (“Real Love”), to atmospheric soundscapes (“We Are God”), Glover demonstrates a truly experimental approach to songwriting on his latest record. Highlights include the acoustic bossa nova of “Steps Beach”, the electronic dancehall of “In The Night”, the cinematic jazz of “No Excuses”, and the alternative hip-hop of “Talk My Shit” and “Yoshinoya”. Unfortunately, despite these soaring highs, Brando Stone And The New World is an incredibly incohesive album that does not revel in experimentation, but rather feels arbitrarily and unnecessarily eccentric without earning the right to be so.

Glover is retiring Childish Gambino, citing that making music has lost its sense of fulfillment. This is especially curious when you consider the sprawling nature of Brando Stone And The New World. While the way he jumps from genre to genre often feels unfocused, it is the songwriting of someone truly enamored with the creative process. While Brando Stone And The New World may suffer from this approach, it speaks to the artistry that we’ve come to expect from Childish Gambino – and perhaps that in itself is the problem: the record seems to be crafted as an antithesis to the confines of both critical expectations and conventional genres. Despite this, there are still moments of greatness on the album, making Brando Stone And The New World a complicated farewell.

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