Nicolay and Phonte build up lush, multi-tiered arrangements using horns, keyboards, beats, bass, and, most of all, layer upon layer of lead and harmony vocals (Phonte's supplemented by those of Darien Brockington, Yahzarah, and Muhsinah). Hear, for example, how breezily the glorious opener "Daykeeper" interweaves its female ("When the sun rises he watches over me") and male ("It's not like it was before and she can't keep me anymore / She loves me") leads and then bolsters them with entrancing harmonizing. The soulful hip-hop of "Something To Behold" is perhaps even more irresistible, especially when the heavenly chorus kicks in ("It's just something inside us / Something that guides us / Closer to truth"). A hip-hop feel also emerges during the blissful "Take Off the Blues" while a lilting funk groove buoys "I Wanna Know" and the second half of "All or Nothing / Coming Home to You." Though much of the material is downtempo, jazz-inflected polyrhythms swing mightily in "Sweeter Than You" and the cover of Stevie Wonder's "If She Breaks Your Heart" (enhanced by a string arrangement from 4hero production team member Marc Mac) is as beautiful as anything else on the album. The material sometimes exemplifies traces of Prince's ballad style and there are moments that suggest kinship with Five Deez and even John Legend (the vocal in the joyful title cut). In truth discussing individual songs seems almost pointless when the album as a whole offers so many pleasures. Suffice it to say, Leave It All Behind can't be recommended highly enough and deserves to be considered one of the year's best releases, regardless of genre.
