The outcome is Therapy at 3, a 50 minute therapy session in which Eligh continues where he stopped on his album Grey Crow released in 2010. The MC explores the deep ends of his soul and digs even deeper than on his critically acclaimed solo effort from last year. That means that you will hear tracks about cigarette addiction (Devils Medicine) or about Eligh’s reasons to wear tattoos (Tattoo Song). Considering the content of these psychological lyrics it is only natural that Amp Live on the production side is not creating some colorful floret sound but instead uses a lot of dark and heavy synths. Like it should be in therapy session not much is really harmonic, even if there is a nice piano or some strings every once in a while. The humming or raspy electronic instrumentals make the perfect background for Eligh’s stream of consciousness presented in a staccato and sometimes almost unrythmic rap style. But like Eligh already said on Grey Crow it is worth to »listen really close and don’t let details fall through« because you will discover smart and well thought stories presented by a mature artist. To complete the album and give the almost disharmonic sound some more melodic elements there are nice visitors stopping by in the therapy room every now and then who sing the chorus. For example on Beautiful Addiction, Ms. Meteor or Ego Killer which all come around a little friendlier. So if you have a look at the greater picture it all comes together and you get quite an impressive album. It is not as melodic and diverse as Grey Crow but that has never been the intention in the first place. Therapy at 3 is a different project with its own stand-outs and its own style. Amp Live creates a sound involving Boom Baps, dark synths and samples and Eligh gives you a very thoughtful peace of his mind. That’s the way therapy should always be like.
Amine Laje
Datsha
Rotary Phono Lab