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R & B artist Son Little, praised by American Songwriter as “one of the best songwriters working today,” conceived his latest album, Like Neptune, in a cabin overlooking the Delaware River in upstate New York. Trading in the existential dread permeating his previous work for unbridled joy and self-acceptance, Son Little transmutes the chronic pain of self-doubt into a beautiful and freeing opus about overcoming generational trauma. Hailed by Afropunk as “a stunning statement of purpose,” Like Neptune decorates the altar of the primordial blues and elevating the labor of healing to high art. “I’ve always felt as though I was making music because I had to, something inside compelled me. Fueled me,” Little shared. “This the first time in a long time I’m making music for the pure joy of creating.”
According to AllMusic album reviewer Mark Deming, “the sound is spare in all the right ways, with the instrumentation never taking any more space than is its due, serving the storytelling and the sweet, deep character of his voice very well while putting subtle, potent grooves just where they should be in the arrangements. His singing is most strongly informed by the vintage soul and R&B that’s always been his bread and butter, but the music is much more strongly beholden to contemporary R&B and hip-hop, rooted in grooves that are contemporary while still connected to their old-school roots.”