No one has had a bigger year, let alone a bigger come up, in 2020 than Giveon. The West Coast baritone has been steadily reinventing Neo-Soul music with the release of a slew of singles, a debut album: TAKE TIME, and now a follow-up EP: When It’s All Said And Done. In a scene dominated by high-ranging falsettos in recent years – think Daniel Caesar, Brent Faiyaz, and dvsn – Giveon has emerged from the fog with a timeless sound as a reinvention altogether of R&B and Neo-Soul’s cloth.

 

At four tracks, When It’s All Said And Done is more masterfully balanced, emotionally evocative, and jarringly unique than just about any other project of greater length anywhere in the vocally-dominated corners of music this year. With an affinity for the analogue instrumentation – especially gentle piano keys – and a knack for expressing the breadth of his range at a listener’s most vulnerable moment, his latest is just a further reaffirmation that under the guide of artists like he and Snoh Aalegra (whose deep-ended, rangy register is also one of the most unique in music) will continue to evolve beautifully and for the better.