A Wall Of Ocean Ten Miles High

Elvis Costello and The Roots “Sugar Won’t Work”

The funny thing about listening to Elvis Costello’s album with The Roots is that in a lot of ways, it’s not that much different from what he’s done with The Impostors in the past decade on The Delivery Man and Momofuku. The Roots mainly just draw out the R&B influences in Costello’s songwriting and bring them to a natural, obvious conclusion. It doesn’t reinvent anything about Costello, but it does give him a little jolt. That might be more exciting if the album didn’t feel so crisp and immaculate – Questlove’s aesthetic as a drummer and producer is so relentlessly in the pocket that it can make groovy songs seem stiff and airtight. Costello is already a guy who keeps his songs neat and tidy, so this just pushes everything to an extreme of fastidious professionalism that is arguably at odds with the spirit of the material. This isn’t a totally bad thing – I can certainly appreciate this aesthetic on its own terms – and some of the cuts benefit from this extremely classy sound. “Sugar Don’t Work,” for example, benefits from this kinda roguish, sneaking groove seamlessly transitioning into a smooth, airy chorus. It’s elegant, but just a little rough.

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