Always out of the blue, somehow out of the woodwork, and unfailingly out of this world, releases from D’Angelo deserve all of our attention. Unshaken, his first release since the unapparelled 2014 Black Messiah, and his first single in more than a decade, is expectedly bold and different than anything he or anyone else has put out before. Driven by a downplayed Spanish guitar riff, founded upon a particularly West African percussive section, and shaken by the occasional maraca plume, Unshaken finds its definition – and obviously so – in D’Angelo’s vocals. With a set of pipes as unique as they come and songwriting ability to match, Unshaken takes on the form of a gospel hymn, a downtrodden anthem. It’s certainly a poignant approach, but in equal breath is a work of upliftingly overcoming. And no one is better to voice such a timely anthemic delivery than D’Angelo himself.