Review Summary: Yet another good combination of earlier r&b and soul sounds with the modern beats and hip-hop innovations and socially conscious lyrics.
Agency abiding by a philosophy? Shouldn’t be a problem, usually, any agency does exactly that. But in the case of some state agencies, it is not exactly what you would want to hear. Luckily, R&B duo Agency, who named their third album proper Philosophies, come up with a musical/lyrical agenda that you would probably like to hear. As they say themselves, "you will learn more through the stories presented in the song. We cover the human experience... a wealth of material shedding light on our loves, our regrets, our hopes, and our fears."
On Resist, their previous album, Agency went for a combination of Seventies social consciousness soul of Marvin Gaye combined with some modern r&b, soul, and hip-hop and it worked a charm for their music. In that respect, on Philosophies, the duo tries to spread their musical and lyrical net even further… and proves that they are certainly on the right track.
The duo obviously has a vast musical knowledge, particularly of the genres that came before them, but also the ones that are currently surrounding them. Take the opener “Hard To Believe” for example. It is like a Prince take on Marvin Days with JB’s guitarist and Booker T playing along, while “INVASION!” Is a modern dance floor version of New Orleans brass and Mardi Gras Bands, and “Joyride” is like Was (Not Was) take on Trap.
As on Resist, the lyrics keep the socially conscious track that gives a personal look at everything around them, where “Tension” is the strongest in that respect. Keeping the tradition of picking and doing a good choice of cover songs (they did win “Sony Cover Music Series” with their version of The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand”), they do a mean version of the Dusty Springfield classic “Spooky”.
Third time around and Agency again manage to come up with goods on Philosophies and combine various strands of r&b, soul, hip-hop and beats into one seamless whole. Worth more than just a casual spin.
