Stream Brent Faiyaz’s Gorgeously Gross New Album Wasteland

The great Maryland R&B singer Brent Faiyaz has been on the brink of something big ever since he showed up on GoldLink’s perfect summer jam “Crew” five years ago, and he may have finally arrived. For about a year, Faiyaz has been releasing spacey, self-assured, vaguely experimental singles, including the Neptunes-produced Drake collab “Wasting Time” and the Tyler, The Creator team-up “Gravity.” Today, Faiyaz releases his sophomore album Wasteland, which uses those previously-released tracks to great effect and which builds a whole world around the Faiyaz persona.

On Wasteland, Brent Faiyaz sings sweetly over gooey, adventurous tracks from an elite team of producers, including No ID, Raphael Saadiq, DJ Dahi, Jake One, Jordan Ware, and Faiyaz himself. Along with Drake and Tyler, guests include Alicia Keys, Joony, and Tre Amani. But the clear focal point is Faiyaz, who sings so beautifully about ugly situations.

All through Wasteland, a serious of sketches works a bit like Kendrick Lamar’s harrowing “We Cry Together.” In this skits, Faiyaz and his baby’s mother argue about their relationship, and things get intense enough to put all of the album’s seduction-talk into a bracing and self-destructive new context. This is ambitious, high-level artistry. The individual tracks work on their own merits, but they also build to something bigger than their component parts. Stream the album for yourself below.

Wasteland is out now on Lost Kids.