Idlewild is the soundtrack to Outkast’s upcoming movie of the same name, and the follow-up to 2003’s massively acclaimed double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Widely celebrated as the group’s finest work, to these ears the duo’s last record actually managed to bring out the worst in Outkast. By separating long-time musical partners Andre 3000 and Big Boi, all sense of dynamics and creative chemistry went out the window – leaving us with two patchy (albeit occasionally inspired) discs, when a convergence of the two might have brought a shorter, more satisfying end-product.
Outkast’s music has always been a peculiar thing: lauded for its ambition, it actually gels more convincingly when the production is at its least busy. The more elaborately constructed their tracks are, the more haphazard they appear. Such problems came to the fore on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, and they’re still in evidence here. People may look for an individual to blame (and it’s usually Big Boi) but a quick scan of the production credits reveals that the hits and misses are evenly distributed between the pair and their guest producers.
Sound-wise, this is two-thirds more-of-the-same (lavish, theatrical, soul-soaked hip-hop), and one-third a departure into less beat-oriented showtunes – this is essentially a musical, after all.
Let’s stick to the good stuff. Single ‘Mighty ‘O’’ recaptures much of what was lost in Outkast’s recent history: Andre and Big Boi’s yin-yang rhymes intertwining over gut-bucket beats and an insidious bassline. ‘N2U’ is a partial return to the groups G-funk roots: it’s sunny, melodic, mid-tempo hip-hop, with a likeably relaxed production. ‘Hollywood Divorce’ is the stand-out: Lil’ Wayne, Snoop and our two regulars swapping melancholy rhymes over a mournful synth figure, and a skittering Cash Money beat.
There are more gems in the record’s second half: ‘Call The Law’ is Lloyd-Webber doing hip-hop (better than the description sounds), with a breathtakingly powerful guest vocal from Janelle Monae. Outkast sound most at home on the deliciously plastic R’n’B/hip-hop track ‘In Your Dreams’, complete with gunshots and cheap splashes of synthetic brass.
Not a full return to form, then. Rather, a continuation of their recent inconsistency – but the result is still something most groups would kill to put their name to.