'Flicted is positioned as the closing chapter of a trilogy begun with 2019's Absolute Zero, the final installment in a series of records where Bruce Hornsby fully embraced the possibilities by radically expanding some compositions originally written as film cues for a Spike Lee joint. Where its immediate predecessor, Non-Secure Connection, lingered and brooded in a way that echoed the work of Bon Iver, whose figurehead Justin Vernon is a noted fan of Hornsby's, 'Flicted is bright and lively in its form and rhythms, its electronic beats and processed voices percolating cheerfully and impishly, his pianos interweaving with spectral voices to create shimmering waves of melody. Hornsby's mischief extends to the scatological refrain in "The Hound" and a hip-hop-informed revision of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business," tracks that would've been jarring on Non-Secure Connection but point to the weird, off-kilter heart that pulsates through 'Flicted. That sense of adventure is evident even on such relatively straightforward numbers as the lovely ballad "Days Ahead," where Danielle Haim plays a supporting role, but the record perhaps reaches its apex at its beginning, when Ezra Koenig and Blake Mills help elevate the elliptical pop melody of "Sidelines" onto an astral plane. This sense of lightness was missing on the otherwise worthy Absolute Zero and Non-Secure Connection, which makes 'Flicted an uplifting and unexpected coda to this restless trilogy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

1		Sidelines
2		Tag
3		Hound
4		Too Much Monkey Business
5		Maybe Now
6		Bucket List
7		Days Ahead
8		Lidar
9		Is This It
10		Had Enough
11		Simple Prayer II
12		Point Omega

	Like us on Facebook
	@SoundHound	Follow