Vocalist Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman weren't able to quickly capitalize on their success as half of the team that wrote and produced
Drake's Top Five pop hit "Hold on, We're Going Home." Nearly a year after that song was released as a single, the duo -- signed to
Drake's OVO Sound label -- issued a five-track EP. Their proper debut album arrived almost a year and a half after that, in February 2016. While their sound is rooted in slightly drowsy, electronics-driven studio productions like so many of their peers, they draw more from early-'80s post-disco and synth pop for rhythmic heft. Lyrically, they keep it as clean as the average pre-new jack swing R&B act. "Because I treat your body right" and "With my hands up and down your spine" are as suggestive as they get, and each song seems to have a relationship in mind rather than a fling. Al Maskati and Ullman get a little help from
Drake, Noah "40" Shebib,
Illangelo, and a couple others, but they're the driving force on this steady set of modest but confident grooves. ~ Andy Kellman