The Internet - Hive Mind

The Quietus

The Internet’s story never slows down. Their first album, marking Syd (formerly Syd Tha Kyd) and Matt Martian’s departure from Odd Future, was interesting yet disjointed. Their second was more cohesive but still lacking in direction, devoid of any defining intention. By their third album, Ego Death, The Internet made a breakthrough, finally tying together each musician’s distinctive style. For many, Ego Death was the album that got them excited about The Internet. The band had finally learned how to lock in to the friendships that so obviously energized everything they created. Even the Grammys recognized their work with a nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album.

When the group then released a series of successful solo projects, some doubt arose as to whether they would ever regroup, or whether any regrouping would ever produce an album as good as Ego Death. Syd finally started getting radio play for her solo debut Fin, a seductive romp in the world of R&B-pop crossoverdom. It was exciting and fresh, but its frisk with mainstream popularity suggested the potential for superstardom without The Internet. Steve Lacy made waves with a thirteen-minute demo, landing spots on festival lineups across the globe. Each member released a record of their own. At the end of their hiatus, they played a tour entitled ‘The Internet Presents: The Internet’ where they played two-hour sets including music both from the group and from each member’s side projects. Despite the band’s drowsy persona, their show at The New Parish was the most exciting I saw that year.

However, Hive Mind is their most lively record yet. Taking on a quicker pace and on multiple tracks a latin groove, each song is light and danceable. Yet, behind the disguise of Syd’s feather-light vocal, each track is a punch to the gut. The driving bass in each song takes you on a winding journey, often taking unexpected turns with jam-band style grooves before you find yourself back at the chorus. It’s the kind of album that makes you wiggle in your seat without even realizing, step-tapping on the dance floor in your head. It’s playful and colorful and has a captivating intensity.

Despite Syd’s distinctive stoner’s drawl, her vocals take on a more mature tone as her storytelling becomes more precise. Expanded with layered harmonies, her bravado has transformed into adult self-assurance. She’s still concerned with fleeting romance but this time without the assistance of cliches. She’s now informed with the bitterness of loves lost. Lines like “I can turn you on with my dirty mind” roll off her tongue in an erotic slur, which is no surprise; Syd has never shied away from singing about sex. But when she sings “this ain’t just you, this ain’t your stage” she shows a new, more retrospective face, neither entirely sad nor angry but singed with the pain of having been wronged. Better yet, her swagger takes on its full form on ‘Look What U Started’, a seething post-breakup anthem. “Now you should ask yourself, was it worth it?” she coos, gazing down at a desperate ex from atop her metaphorical throne.

There’s sensitive moments, too. ‘Stay The Night’ hosts a near-whispering chorus, mixed so as to sound like Syd’s pleas echo from around the room. In it, she reaches out to an upset lover and asks for forgiveness, her voice resonating in a somber flow. ‘It Gets Better’, on the other hand, comforts an anonymous listener who struggles with the same depression Syd’s come forward about in her own life. Harps even find their way into the composition for “Wanna Be,” a song about courtship and vulnerability. For every upbeat moment there is a gentler one, too.

However, The Internet don’t lose steam in their slower moments, pulling the listener through all thirteen tracks with raw emotion and hypnotizing compositions. Though Syd’s performance is the most magnetic, the instrumentalists show up with synchronous charisma. At many points the overall effect is hypnotizing with the way musical phrases interlock; the sounds are unpredictably stimulating, and the storytelling is relatable without coming off cheesy. Hive Mind, as the name suggests, presents The Internet as the tightest they’ve ever been.

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Pitchfork 83

The fourth album from the R&B collective is a peak example of their combined powers. It simplifies their sound with soft-focus blues, plush arrangements, and deep-in-the-ground grooves.

Drowned In Sound 70

Against a troubling political backdrop, The Internet preach a spirit of togetherness and positivity. Hive Mind’s resistance is more personal than political though, telling tales of love won and lost with a backing of soul and R&B. Classic collectives such as George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic and the loosely-defined Soulquarians of the late Nineties are clear touchstones. The more contemporary sounds of Thundercat, Flying Lotus, and Pharrell Williams also make appearances. While early Internet records felt like solo albums for lead-singer Syd, Hive Mind sees her acting as a band-leader, letting each member express themselves more freely.

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The greater presence of the group’s other members is clearly felt on the album’s opening four tracks, which rank among The Internet’s finest. ‘Roll (Burbank Funk)’ and ‘La Di Da’ are the record’s best grooves, anchored by Patrick Paige II’s nimble bass playing, and examples of how Hive Mind works best when The Internet give themselves freedom to improvise. Opener ‘Come Together’ is embellished by a jazz flute which wanders quietly in the background, while ‘Come Over’ allows Steve Lacy to roam free with a gracefully simple guitar solo.

Unfortunately, after this opening run Hive Mind takes a turn towards less intricate and ultimately less interesting slower numbers. Songs like ‘Bravo’ and ‘Next Time/Humble Pie’ feel particularly held back by repetitive arrangements which appear to aim for a hypnotic atmosphere but end up feeling slightly monotonous. The looseness of the album’s opening songs does return on ‘Beat Goes On’ as a welcome break from the chilled atmosphere. ‘Mood’ also strikes a nice balance between the album’s two main styles, groovy and mellow, with what sounds like a subtle nod to Aaliyah’s ‘More Than a Woman’ in its middle breakdown.

The album’s restrained second half shows that the flaws of early Internet albums are not completely gone. Syd is still a fairly undynamic vocalist and on the album’s softer songs, her voice tends to drift into the background. Lyrically, she is also not as bold as the music around her. Similarly, while The Internet show ample skill with crafting grooves, some of the song-writing on Hive Mind feels unstructured and much of its second half blends indistinctly together.

However, while Hive Mind does not solve all the problems with The Internet’s sound, it does make the most compelling case yet for the band as a group rather than a collection of individual personalities. The highlights are also plentiful on this record. The singles are by far The Internet’s best and other moments, such as the killer groove on ‘Look What U Started’, are worthy of their influences.

Hive Mind is at its best when it gives its band-members a chance to loosen up. A more expansive record, with longer, more experimental songs, may be the best way forward. Nevertheless, this record makes a good argument for The Internet’s best work being together. The group do not always connect perfectly on this album but when they do, it’s magical. Hive Mind celebrates musical collectivism and succeeds when it is at its most collaborative.

The Guardian 60

(Columbia)

The Internet’s name alludes to the tight yet far-reaching connection between the five-piece LA band, but it’s the individual members’ solo projects that have distinguished them recently. Lead singer Syd released her debut, Fin, last year – a nocturnal collection of intimate R&B – while keyboardist Matt Martians and guitarist Steve Lacy also put out groove-heavy efforts in 2017; the latter came on the heels of the 20-year-old’s production for Pride on Kendrick Lamar’s album Damn. Martians and Syd started their careers in a group setting, though – the hip-hop collective Odd Future – and therefore have experience of smartly interweaving solo projects with collaborative playing, alongside talents such as Tyler the Creator and Frank Ocean.

On their fourth album, Hive Mind, the slick R&B – borrowing heavily from Timbaland and Pharrell – and languorous vocals of previous records Purple Naked Ladies, Feel Good and Ego Death remain. More so, though, Hive Mind feels like a showcase of the band’s individual talents; Patrick Paige II delivers the nonchalant bassline on lead single Roll (Burbank Funk), Syd’s silken falsetto adorns the half-time groove of Come Together, and Martians plays out the same number with a skit inspired by the frantic synth-bass of Thundercat.

The Guardian 0

No longer just a hip-hop band’s spin-off, the Internet’s seductive neo-soul is perfectly in tune with the mainstream on their accomplished fourth album

Stars are born quite differently these days. Here’s one new way: imagine you’re in a molten-hot hip-hop collective, the sole woman among a clot of bratty young bucks known as Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. You’re Syd tha Kyd, AKA Sydney Bennett, the brooding DJ/producer at the back of the pack – not merely the lone female, but queer too, which makes the group’s homophobic outbursts all the more galling. Your uncle is a Jamaican reggae producer who co-wrote Mr Loverman for Shabba Ranks, so music runs deep.

Odd Future eat up a lot of oxygen in the late 00s and early 10s. The most attention-seeking alpha male, Tyler, the Creator, looks destined to do a Beyoncé. Then a truly extraordinary thing happens: Tyler’s ascent stalls. And three far greater talents spin off OFWGKTA: first, the magnificent soul man Frank Ocean, who turns out not to be straight either. Next, re-enter rapper Earl Sweatshirt, who makes good on the mythical status he acquires in exile at reform school in Samoa.

The Internet sound as though they’ve been bolstered, rather than diminished by their solo projects