Kid Cudi continues his sonic journey across space with his new album ‘Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon’. Cudi persistently pushes even more boundaries with his infamously abstract instrumentals, although some being particularly underwhelming…
‘Satellite Flight’ is Cudi’s fourth solo album which carries on the space themed saga, however is it necessary to question the ‘Day ‘N’ Night’ singer’s versatility to produce an album with a subject matter other than drugs, depression and the universe beyond Earth?
Much like the start of ‘Indicud’, the LP kicks off with an epic introduction with the song ‘Destination: Mother Moon’, producing a slightly murky yet compelling instrumental; Cudi is on a mission and we cannot stop him. Contrastingly, ‘Going to the Ceremony’, which follows after this track, proceeds to kill the intense mood with cringe worthy guitar chords that resemble a theme tune from an American high school chick flick. And great, another reference to the 30 year olds loneliness is experienced in this song too, “But none of my friends, just me and this bottle.”
Tracks such as ‘Satellite Flight’ generate heavy nostalgia for the fans who witnessed Cudder’s first record ‘Man On The Moon: The End Of Day’, demonstrating that feel good vibe we all know and love. Smoothly, the album shifts to another cosmic instrumental named ‘Copernicus Landing’, which gives the impression that we’re slowly gravitating through distant Universes, admiring the wonders of each galaxy. Rapper-Cud re-emerges in ‘Too Bad I Have To Destroy You Now’ and could be taking a slash at former mentor Kanye West as he states, “He watched my back until the world started knowin’ my name.” This may have stemmed from his choice to move out of Kanye’s label G.O.O.D Music. Perhaps one of the best songs on the record is ‘Internal Bleeding’, which features Cudi slurring his words throughout the track over a cleverly synthesised beat; which, admittedly, doesn’t sound too appealing but Cudi’s emotion shines through, especially when he cries, “I’ve tried it all, I can’t stop this internal bleeding and my heart is leakin’, heart is leakin’ out.”
A few conceptual beats and depression based tracks later, we come to the end of what has been a unique, quirky and euphoric album. However, after a few listens, one wonders whether any of these tracks will be memorable in the future with no real groundbreakers, compared to other records that have recently been released or, come to mention it, any albums released in the past year; it is hard to imagine ‘Satellite Flight’ having any significant impact in the music industry up against such tough competition.