Wayne Smith

It was fine. It's sad to see many of the reviews below that say Nate sold out or he went Hollywood because he made an album that didn't focus on himself being sad, depressed, even suicidal. They say he lacked authenticity. I find that type of comment to be shameful. He's being authentic in hope also, but he's being more confident, more self assured of where he stands in the music business. That's just as authentic. It simply hits different chords than most of his more dark songs. Dude is getting better and I couldn't be happier for him as a person. Is hope as good as search or even perception? No, imo, it's not, but not because of his new confidence and focus on earthly things like money and standing. His production in this album was very different and some songs just didnt work for me. Suffice was a hard miss but it's not like he hasn't had subpar songs on other albums. Gone is ok, but nothing I'll listen to often. He tried new things... Some were very successful... Some didn't hit, but those misses were due to style rather than content. Let the man flex a bit, sheesh. He deserves it after putting out 4 albums that forcused on his struggles. If he did sell out like some say and he focuses on mainstream going forward, I'll just be grateful for a decade of great music that he's already given us. I'll give the project an 8 overall. Leave off suffice and gone, I'd raise it to an 8.5