Maneuvering the perilous depths of heartbreak and ecstasy, SKIN TOWN's bewitching R&B pop stunner The Room approaches the elusive mysteries of desire and longing with directness and urgency.
Unabashedly romantic (and delightfully hedonistic), the LA-based outfit's modern R&B may sit alongside nicely with contemporary hitmakers like The-Dream or Mike Will Made It, but they align closer to the freakiness of Ginuwine and Silk juxtaposed against the feather-weight synth trails of new age.
There is a narcotic pull in Nick Turco’s (synth/keys man for Zola Jesus) lean, spacious productions that serves as the perfect foil for Grace Hall’s commandingly astonishing voice, which guides you throughout The Room, alternating between sinister sultriness and breathtaking sweetness.
The Room is out on Time No Place this November.
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If smokey jams ‘Slidin’ and ‘Ride’ and the scintillating ‘Ice Crystal Palace’ are anything to go by, The Room could be the autumn/winter soundtrack — for the bedroom.
It’s almost too perfect of a scenario, but it helps that they’re both obviously talented; Turco’s synthscapes are huge and scene-stealing, while Hall’s husky voice strikes a glorious medium between Abel Tesfaye and Sade. Together, they’ve crafted a strong debut album that flirts with the hipster-R&B zeitgeist without giving itself away altogether. 7.4
The Room is tongue-in-cheek, soulful, and empowering—never forgettable. It’s a synapse-firing barrage of synth and super-smooth vocals that will make you reach for a bottle of champagne, stare into somebody’s eyes, and get lost in mental or physical euphoria for its forty minutes.
Even with a grindhouse horror movie name, the sound that emerges from Skin Town is un-campy, sexy, and glamorous
Synth-led, melodic and dripping with penetrating pop hooks, The Room manages to sound both warmly familiar and oddly alien
Full of biting, sparse synth work and wonderfully restrained vocal lines from Hall, the duo’s debut album ‘The Room’ is a dramatic unveiling reminiscent of Abel Tesfaye’s first mixtape – hardened, glistening R&B that’s been left to soak in the grit of the dance underground.
Hall and Turco’s music falls on the right side of sexy.