All that touring with Todd Rundgren must have rubbed off on Dâm-Funk, because his second album Invite The Light is the sort of record Rundgren pioneered in the ’70s – frighteningly long, stuffed with ideas and designed for the listener to get lost in.
Musically, the similarities are few: Dâm-Funk makes a synth-heavy form of “modern funk” rather than pop-rock. But as with Rundgren’s classics Something/Anything? and A Wizard/A True Star, Invite The Light‘s titanic length (96 minutes) and ample moments of brilliance make it an inconsistent but thrilling rabbit hole to fall down.
Like Something/Anything, Invite The Light starts with the “hits,” including bouncy lead single “We Continue.” The high-speed car chase of “Surveillance Escape” is a left turn into more experimental territory, and it also introduces an unnecessary sci-fi plot that seems to function primarily to emphasize how “spacey” the music is. Loose concepts are common on funk albums, but unlike on Prince’s Art Official Age or Janelle Monae’s Metropolis series, Invite the Light‘s plot is never distracting, and it’s quickly jettisoned.
The best tracks here are the meditative grooves that aim for transcendence, like “O.B.E.” and “It Didn’t Have 2 End This Way.” One of the thrills of his debut Toeachizown was how the funk signifiers he employed didn’t function as expected. His grooves were funky, yes, but also stoic and deliberately beautiful, intended as much for listening as dancing. Invite The Light‘s standouts find this balance as beautifully as anything on Toeachizown, and their location towards the middle of the album makes digging them out a treat.
The more vocal-oriented songs here are less beautiful and distinctive, aiming more for dance floor oblivion than the layered experience Toeachizown provides. They also reveal Dâm-Funk’s biggest flaw: he’s not much of a lyricist. Most of his lyrics are mindless positivity that walks the line between infectious and daft. He talks in earnest about third eyes and the Illuminati, sometimes sounding a bit too much like a high-school stoner in the process.
He can usually get better results by handing the mic over to one of the many luminaries that dot this album. Nite Jewel’s voice sounds great over Dâm-Funk’s production, and it’s a shame she only sings on “Virtuous Progression.” Leon Sylvers-es III and IV add R&B gloss to “Glyde 2nyte.” Most interesting is Ariel Pink, whose irony-drenched vocals on “Acting” sour the relentlessly positive and sincere mood of the album just enough to make an interesting splash of flavor.
But no matter who’s on the mic, Dâm-Funk’s productions still sound like nothing else in any genre. His hallmarks are here in abundance: vintage drum machines, titanic bass and soaring jazz chords.
Though Invite The Light is the less essential and impressive of Dâm-Funk’s two full-lengths, it’s still a worthy addition to the canon of one of funk’s most distinctive talents – as well as the storied tradition of the inconsistent but ultimately worth-it double album.
Funk is rarely this beautiful.
Listen to Dâm-Funk’s “We Continue” below: