Supreme Beings of Leisure
It's reported that Supreme Beings of Leisure emerged when a rap group called Oversoul 7 added a singer named Geri Soriano-Lightwood. Yet the band's laid-back dance grooves sound all of a piece, as if they'd played together for years. There's no messy merging of disparate styles, no rude sound shifts that occur when young bands search for their sound. Instead, this is a professionally buffed production. Though the three instrumental members all share programming duties and the music is certainly heightened by a liberal use of special space-age effects, the music is far more rooted in traditional soul-ballad and pop-rock writing than apparent on first listen. Tracks such as "Golddigger" and "Strangelove Addiction" borrow their hooks from the pop-rock dictionary, no matter how futuristic the desires. It might be another case of style over substance. Or maybe the band needs to transcend their professionalism and really get down to some scary stuff.--Rob O'Connor