One-man show Dwele’s debut, Subject, comes correct with neo-soul staples in place. That is to say, there are enough acoustic guitars, stacked harmony vocals, mid-tempo grooves, and sound effects of scratchy vinyl to power an old-school symposium. What the Detroit-bred associate of backpack-rappers Slum Village lacks in depth, he makes up for in sheer summer-ready listenability. Dwele’s genre could be called neo-neo-soul; he seems to owe as much to the foundations laid down by D’Angelo as to obvious idol Stevie Wonder. While lacking the idiosyncrasies of those artists, Dwele manages to slide out of the speakers with enough skills to convince a casual listener to let the languid mood take over. Subject’s title track is its most fully imagined; the needle-on-record gambit that obscures its likable chorus could actually be heard as a conceptual gambit rather than a mere irritation. Elsewhere, Dwele piles on the quiet-storm stuff so masterfully that he sows confusion, while at least seemingly hoping to settle down with one conquest. Vision is hardly up to talent here, but for now, Dwele gets a pass on winning sonics alone. --Rickey Wright

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