THEESatisfaction’s second offering, EarthEE continues where the duo’s 2012 debut awE NaturalE left off. It has similar levels of laid back psychedelic alternative hip hop throughout, with each song ensuring that it never outstays its welcome (the record has 13 tracks and clocks in at a mere 43 minutes). Sadly, this succinct approach is sometimes detrimental to the music. Opening track Prophetic Perfection is a mere 1 minute 41 seconds and feels like more of a good idea or demo rather than a full song. One other pitfall of the album is that while the ominous vibe to many of the tracks does work brilliantly (No GMO for example), at times it falls flat, feeling almost forced; Fetch/Catch as well as the intro for Recognition seem to be weird for the sake of weirdness.
The group does have an exemplary vocal synergy though, between Stasia “Stas” Irons rapping and Catherine Harris-White R&B vocal style, one constantly elevating the other across the spectrum of the record. Additionally, the Earth concept of the record is particularly intriguing on songs like Universal Perspective, with the ascending synths feeling almost like a representation of an elevator travelling towards deep space. This track also contains some of Stas’s best lyrics:“Okay, so the Earth is round, we found/You travel to the edge and you pound the ground/I’d have pushed you off the edge but what I found profound/That I could get revenge through song and sound”
EarthEE sees THEESatisfaction aiming for an expansion on their musical palette, going for a grander, more affluent album than its predecessor. Sometimes they do succeed, but far too often the record falls short either in terms of scope or even song length, and you can’t help but wish they’d indulged themselves a little bit more and further fleshed out the album.
Verdict: 6.5/10