Album Review: BLK ODYSSY’s Pop-Rock Pivot

Rising “Funkentologist” leaves R&B behind on 1-800-FANTASY

By Carys Anderson, Fri., July 26, 2024

photo by Ethan Gully

BLK ODYSSY has officially blown up. The Plainfield, NJ-born artist, born Juwan Elcock, launched his music career in Austin in 2016, but in the years since, an NPR Tiny Desk performance and other national media namechecks have spread his “FUNKENTOLOGY” beyond city limits.

The records that brought BLK ODYSSY to national prominence – 2021’s revolution-soundtracking BLK VINTAGE and, particularly, 2023’s Bootsy Collins-featuring concept album DIAMONDS & FREAKS – merged hip-hop, soul, and, of course, funk into lush studio projects that showcased Elcock’s talents as a producer. There are still signs of that meticulous craftsmanship on LP3, which tells another story – this time, about a Nineties teenager who falls in love with a woman operating a phone sex line. Yet for the most part, 1-800-FANTASY strips BLK ODYSSY down, trading layered, stretched-out R&B for simplified, catchy – though oftentimes repetitive – pop-rock.

As the teenage character dials the titular number, opener “HELLO?” signals seduction with smoky saxophone and meandering flute, courtesy of guest musician Art Hays. Follow-up “XXX,” meanwhile, introduces BLK ODYSSY’s new genre experiment in earnest with a gloomy guitar line and heavy reverb. A guest verse by past Fall Out Boy/Travis Barker collaborator Wiz Khalifa seals the track’s place as a follow-up to the emo-rap heyday of the 2010s.

Boy, are these songs stuck in my head.

Elcock is game to toy with darker sounds as long as they don’t mask his melodies. Nearly every song on FANTASY has a chorus that’s bound to get stuck in your head for days. This simplicity-is-king approach can grate; “GEMINI” opens with almost the exact same drum beat as Elle King’s “Ex’s & Oh’s,” a relic from the dreadful 2010s alt-rock radio era I’d hoped to never think about again.

The project’s best moments come when BLK ODYSSY dips back into maximalism. Lively and untempered, “PHASE” does rock right: Guitarist Alejandro Rios steps on the distortion for the explosive chorus, and Elcock stacks his own equally filtered vocals alongside longtime collaborator LARA’s (formerly Eimaral Sol), reminding us that he’s a master at blending voices into an enveloping swirl of harmonies. Guest vocals bolster other tracks, too: “STANK ROSE,” a stylistic throwback and cheeky OutKast reference, welcomes Joey Bada$$ for a memorable verse about getting an ex back by deciphering her current man’s weaknesses (“Maybe he don’t tell her enough how much he missin’ her/ Maybe she bored of missionary, he won’t change the position up”).

As the concept album progresses, Elcock’s character becomes so obsessed with his unattainable love interest that he grows violently delusional. This narrative leads to some less-than-inspired lyrics – dreams, fantasies, nightmares, and creeps frequently reappear – but it does provoke some evocative vocal performances from the artist. Highlight “BLEACH” ditches the pop-rock schtick and slows down, with a head-bobbing beat and ominous guitar signaling the character’s insanity. “She likes me ... she wants me ... to give her ... something special,” the vocalist lies to himself, just barely choking out those final words.

Elcock stretches his voice even further in the climactic album closer “LAST RESORT.” In full-blown stalker mode, his character beckons the sex worker to come meet him outside her house, building from a weary croon to an aggrieved rap to, finally, literal cries, as a goth guitar arpeggio gives way to pounding percussion. At the height of the drama, however, BLK ODYSSY breaks the spell. Somber horns and roaring police sirens turn into a knock on the door. It’s not the fantasy girl – it’s the teenager’s mom, demanding that he get up for school and admonishing him for falling asleep to a nasty movie.

Listening to this highly stylized genre pivot, I can’t help but wonder if BLK ODYSSY was inspired by Beyoncé, who issued an entire not-country country album to prove to racist haters that she could master any genre she put her mind to. 1-800-FANTASY feels like Cowboy Carter in that regard: I don’t doubt either project’s proficiency, but I won’t be digging deep into their nooks and crannies – like I still do with sprawling respective predecessors DIAMONDS & FREAKS and Renaissance – either.

But boy, are these songs stuck in my head.