No one is questioning that Soul’s presence in modern music is still very much alive, but in tandem with the funk and unendingly danceable groove that swept across the soundwaves of the late 70’s and early 80’s; along with the presence of a later 80’s disco wave that rollerskates on synth-soaked wood grain; hand-in-hand with the sultry vulnerability of Golden Era R&B; and bathed in a retrofuturistic soultronic boldness, soul,PRESENT bleeds, rejoices into modernity on the back of Q’s emergent genius.

 

It is not of one era or stylistic influence in particular, though many musical moments and nuances don’t just come to mind, but are beaten into a listener’s frontal lobe with every highnote, every synthstroke, every bassline for 36 minutes. Some listening will hear Prince. Others will tie Q’s sound to Michael Bolton. Some will hear Aaliyah or Destiny’s Child, and others will pull him into a modernistic conversation with sonic revivalist names like Joyce Write, Devin Morrison, and Kyle Dion. A marathon of stylistically, ephocally, and socially defiant jams that bleed into one with a not-so-stealthy choppiness as experimental bridge after risk-taking transition slap one another on the dance floor. And on the dance floor, too, hopefully is the physical manifestation of anyone subjected to the funky, soulful, anthem that is soul,PRESENT as a whole, because there is no better album to dance to.

 

In a new era of sonic retrofuturism, where artists often source a node or a feeling from someone else somewhere else, Q commits unapologetically to other-epochally, and indeed, otherworldly energy, sourced from an inexplicable, indistinguishable hodgepodge of specific thens and a now we haven’t yet reached. All the while composing the most vulnerably willing, sensually tantalizing sonic story to unfold in 2023, Q unearths a brazen honesty in modern music that could only be of reference to something of a daring nostalgia. And yet, it never commits fully to those gone-by eras. Instead, Q tastefully creates a signature aesthetic that could only exist in the most modern of moments, where enough could be amalgamate of the past. A student of the synth bath era of ballads, the roller rink era of glittering instrumentation and even more glittering pants, the poetically and vocally unapologetic baby-makers, and the confluence mosaic of what it all means to a new era, willing and open to exist in unending authenticity, in ever-reaching fluidity. There’s no place better from where such emotionally evocative silk could emerge, then from far, far within, and yet still oh, so willing to share it to anyone listening. And who wouldn’t listen, and do-so with the most ecstasy-inducing euphoria?

 

Something about the daring, anthemic, addicting hit that is STEREO DRIVER taps especially into Q’s greater soul,PRESENT effort with microcosmic rapture. The track - which we’ve admittedly had on repeat for multiple stints of five or more plays - is not simply that good. Rather, it’s simply that refreshing, enticing, tasty, and well yes… good, too. Let’s set the stage: a shallow pool of reflective water, a podium with some upright keys, bright lights, and the 23-year-old Q central in the frame. One of soul,PRESENT’s leading singles and videos from the tail end of 2022, Stereo Driver captures the essence at the center of Q’s at-that-point still yet to be released album, glistening with blissful retrofuturism that feels at once reminiscent and also irreplaceably nouveau. Underwater synth strokes drive home an obvious 80’s edge to the cut’s innermost nostalgia, while Q’s vocals runs and subject matter feel somehow much more in line with a modern R&B scene that drives home deep-diving emotionality and provocation of thought in a way where a generalized 80’s popscape tended toward something more ambiguous. For four minutes - and in actuality, for eight months - this standout track helped shape a listener’s understanding of the world Q was building.