A Love Surreal
eOne Records
Producers: Conley “Tone” Whitfield, Mike
Severson & Corey, Shafiq Husayn, Steve Mckie
8 out of 10
Jazzy, sensual and acoustic, featuring passionate lyrics reminiscent of Raphael Saadiq, Bilal softly massages the listener’s cerebral cortex. Piano keys blend beautifully with guitar riffs to set a classy, ambient atmosphere. Bilal’s Philadelphia-bred vocals have a seductive feel, able to penetrate the hearts of the opposite sex and lovers of melodramatic music. His ability to explore the boy-meets-girl, boy-breaks-up-with-girl, then-gets-back-together-with girl motif is demonstrated in “Butterfly,” which conjures images of love being rekindled between two people. A Love Surreal is a spiritual magnum opus made for sluggish afternoons and moonlit evenings either by yourself or with your significant other.
—Adam Seyum
