51

51. Roadhouse 01 - Allan Rayman (2017)

R&B

Behind the casual edginess his voice conjures, Canadian alt-R&B artist Allan Rayman uses his second album to explore a somewhat bleak landscape. His vocal versatility is on display on “Roadhouse 01”, alternatively emphasizing seductive, trembling whispers and half-restrained gravelly outbursts filled with raw, raspy emotion. Taking a relatively novel stab at classically inspired R&B, the album sounds as if it may have been conceived in some back alley, over cigarettes between pool games amidst blowing snow swirling beneath dim street lights. Thematically, love, and all of its endless emotional permutations, are investigated with the reluctant passion of a jaded detective. 

“Head Over Heels” steals the show, featuring an ultra-cool, occasionally slurry canter over drums, claps and sparse blues guitar. The track conjures a sense of impending tragedy, the kind exemplified by the amorously star-struck pair Clarence and Alabama in True Romance. “I’m a bad boy,” Rayman sings over a headbangable chorus, “I’m an outlaw, I’m a James Dean. She’s a beauty queen.” It’s a love that seems destined for a violent end. “13” is Rayman doing a dirty blues Michael Jackson over snapping snares and gritty bass lines. Through it all, his voice remains the center of attention, effortlessly evoking elemental emotions while being intrinsically catchy and moving. When the pseudo-gospel closing track “God is a Woman” draws to an abrupt end with the question “Is anybody out there, or am I all alone”, you’re left wondering how on earth Allan Rayman hasn’t blown up the internet yet. Maybe a collaboration with modern R&B legend and fellow Canadian The Weeknd could change that…

*image; cover art for the album Roadhouse 01 by the artist Allan Rayman