On his three-part concept series Dusk, Dark, Dawn, SG Lewis took listeners through the distinctive stages of an evening out, embodying lived experience in sound. On his debut album times, the British auteur will once more approach music with a temporal aim, taking his sonics back in time to craft an LP centered on the here and now.times, slated to land on February 19, 2021, is borne out of the music and zeitgeist of the disco era, Lewis explained in an interview with Dancing Astronaut. “What tied this album together?” Lewis mused. Not the “study of disco music” from a technical standpoint, he said, but rather a deeper comprehension of the music’s significance to those who moved to it.times has grown out of this rich, retrospective observation of how and why disco transcended its status as a musical style to become an inclusive, spirited cultural movement. While times will pay homage to the sounds of this defining period in music, it will also actively strive to embody and elicit the same “joy” that disco music did in its apex. “I wanted this album to focus on celebration and on the present moment,” Lewis elaborated, calling this the “core message” of the album. This is the part where you call Lewis not only auspicious but also wise, as if he were able to anticipate that listeners would need music with this emphasis before they needed it: times was written entirely before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lewis said,This “feeling” and its cohesiveness across times will be most potent when the project lands in full to scatter some more SG magic across the electronic release ring. Fortunately, it’s already accessible in a more than sufficient fraction: “Feed The Fire” with Lucky Daye. A warm evocation of disco sound seeped in Lewis’ inimitable style, “Feed The Fire” is a kinetic kickstarter and it’s notably one of the few times tracklistings that doesn’t carry Lewis’ own vocals.times‘ creation was notably guided by two specific components, Lewis said. The first, the “influencing inspiration” of the disco movement, and the second, his progression as a vocalist:In the past, Lewis has lent his pipes to several of his originals, with “Blue” of July 2019’s Dawn and the rapturous “Chemicals,” released in April, serving as examples. In a 2018 interview with British GQ, Lewis stated that he wanted to “grow into singing more,” and by 2021, this aspiration will have come full circle, thanks in part to a series of vocal lessons that have heightened Lewis’ existing vocal savvy. The lessons “taught me more about how to use my voice,” Lewis said. “I wrote a lot of songs and a lot of them didn’t feel like me. I think that I had to learn what my voice is and how I could use my voice, because I had always approached things from the standpoint of production before.” He continued,While many SG Lewis fans might very well need convincing that Lewis had any more work to do in the vocal department given the strength of his prior sung showings, the promise of expanded exposure to his vocal capacities is enough to make the period between now and February 19, 2021 one of impatience. In the coming months, Lewis is expected to share not only times‘ tracklist but also the list of collaborators, vocal and otherwise, who assisted on the project. When disclosed, it will expand the already robust cast of collaborators with whom Lewis has worked over his career to date, such as Robyn, Channel Tres, Clairo, and Aluna, among others. Come February 19, SG Lewis’ status as a once in a generation talent will be affirmed by times, and true to the LP and Lewis’ aim, we’ll be celebrating that moment, listening.Featured image: Harvey PearsonTags: dark, Dawn, Dusk, Feed The Fire, SG Lewis, times
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