Good Thing

Leon Bridges' sophomore record rings as an endorsement of his range. And that's a great thing for Good Thing, which tempers its pop-radio ambitions with unique bends on the age-old love song in this super-tight, 35-minute ride.

Bridges doesn’t entirely leave behind his old-school roots, but, while Good Thing is hardly the next Blonde or, indeed, 24K Magic, it leaves you with a greater sense of who he is: loved-up, and striving for a level of ambition that feels within reach.

The singer and songwriter's second album similarly displays different approaches that skillfully build off and depart from the previous release.

The 28-year-old musician has amplified his talent on his sophomore record Good Thing.

Classic soul opener Bet Ain't Worth The Hand sounds like the Philly soul of The Delfonics, but it's not long before we're into more up-to-date sonic shapes witht he dislocated beats of Lions. [Jun 2018, p.109]

While he shouldn’t have to answer all his critics, Bridges does so on ‘Good Thing’ with remarkable aplomb. If he was indeed once a rehash of the past, this time he can’t be tied to one specific time, past or present.

On Good Thing, Bridges has kept his heart on his sleeve but updated his parlance to something a little less affected, a little more believable.

Not everything works. "If It Feels Good, It Must Be" and "You Don’t Know" feel like fake Pharrell, which is some pretty thin plastic. But the closers--the skin-to-skin makeup sex ballad "Mrs." and the free-ranging autobiographical narrative "Georgia to Texas" (Bridges' second tribute to his mom in as many albums)--show how expansive and individual Bridges can be, even as he guns for the charts.

Just as it's a struggle to name parallels beyond Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, it's equallly difficult to imagine why anybody would want to. [Jun 2018, p.24]

While Bridges is certainly far from falling on his face, there’s nothing that really raises him above the droves of artists currently mining the sounds of ‘80s and ‘90s R&B either.

The album falters when Bridges strays from his retro-soul wheelhouse.

It's when Bridges merges a pop-oriented approach over a modern R&B groove where his creative diffidence shows.

Certain sections of Bridges’s audience are likely to define themselves against modern forms, so there is a risk here. But Bridges handles the transition deftly.

While he proves in spades that he’s not merely a throwback artist who has to rely on nostalgia, the mishmash of sounds coming from the album does feel a little muddled at times.

While still connected to soul's sacred wellspring, frames his artisanal songcraft in more modernist settings. [Jun 2018, p.95]