Aundre Raashad started his musical career at the tender age of 11, singing in a male gospel quartet, and that understanding of the roots of gospel and the dynamics of placing together overlapping, shared vocal arrangements stand him in good stead here with this gorgeous piece of soul-driven, lightly jazz-influenced R&B alongside collaborator Aundre’a Lynnette.
Lynnette’s delicious, sultry voice sits perfectly alongside Raashad’s smooth groove vocal and laid back, chilled beats, the restrained and tasteful guitar licks filling the space with a delightfully rounded-yet-trebly blues-soul tone and allowing the piano swells and flourishes and seductively funky bassline to carry the song.
While Raashad’s first single, the more hip hop styled ‘Student Loans’, might have brought some notable recognition on its release last year, ‘Love You Better’, from Raashad’s debut album ‘Thank You For Your Time’ (which has already notched up an impressive one million streams in its first six months of release, an impressive as hell set of stats for an indie artist, and which also includes ‘Student Loans’), is perfect, mature, soulful smoky evening music. This is the kind of romantic chilled soul track that’s both modern and cutting edge, in the style of D’Angelo’s ‘Brown Sugar’ or ‘Lady’ or Raphael Saadiq’s ‘Sometimes’, yet at the same time drawing on the vibe and feel of the old-school footsteps of great artists like Al Green, Bobby Womack, or Marvin Gaye. It’s sexy and smouldering, for sure, but it’s got groove and taste coming out of every pore; Aundre Raashad really DOES do it better.
Hear ‘Love You Better’, and the rest of ‘Thank You For Your Time’, on Apple Music.
Review by Alex Holmes