More Is More | “More” – Flying Lotus (feat. Anderson .Paak)

More+Is+More+%7C+More+%E2%80%93+Flying+Lotus+%28feat.+Anderson+.Paak%29

Sarah Beltran, Senior Staff Writer

Flying Lotus is set to drop his sixth album this Friday, May 24, after nearly five years of loose tracks and teases. “More” is the third single released from the album, Flamagra, featuring none other than Anderson .Paak. Its accompanying music video was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, director of the well-known anime Cowboy Bebop. This kind of collaboration is so exciting and we can only hope it reflects the quality of Flamagra’s other tracks.

“More” is the perfect title for this lush track, which utilizes layers upon layers upon layers. These layers express all different time periods, genres and textures – all of which, I think, gives a nod to both who and what is influencing his forthcoming album (collaborators include Solange, Thundercat and Toro y Moi, just to name a few).

After the rich intro, alight with jumpy Stereolab-esque drums and soulful vocals, “More” abruptly switches to a more stripped-down beat. Gradually, bass, sampled vocals, main vocals, keyboard and guitar all filter in to create a vibrant, colorful scene. With .Paak saying, “There’s gotta be more to life than myself,” we can hear this grasp for that “more” because that is just what Lotus is giving us. By the tail-section of the song, Lotus and .Paak have begun to strip the message back down to its roots, saying, “I want to learn more, I want to love more, I want to get further – it’s not too far from home.”

Based on this single, I think Lotus is headed there.

Featured image by Jim Dyson/Getty.