The Al Ur Pal Project has a pair of singles out right now that has been getting the attention of critics across the underground, and it’s easy to see why when giving either one of them a spin this September. Although driven by so much more than the main melody, “My Honey (His Drips)” is perhaps the more defined of the couple on the strength of its charming lead vocal, but even in the opposing “My Honey (Her Drips),” there’s no debating the strength of the instrumental prowess in both tracks. All in all, this is about exhibitionism – and showing us how much ambition these players really have.
“My Honey (Her Drips)” has the more complete master mix between the two songs, but I think it’s important to note just how invested in detail Al Wordlaw sounds in both of these performances. There’s no question that he had a hand in working out all of the more minute intricacies in the studio himself rather than leaving it up to producers, and had there not been as much love put into this arrangement, it’s difficult to say whether or not we would feel as immersed in both the narrative and the music as we do here.
There’s a lot of balance to both of these songs, and yet I feel like the rhythm in the masculine take on “My Honey” is sporting just a bit more weight on the backend than its counterpart is. This isn’t to say that “My Honey (Her Drips)” doesn’t feel as heavy in spots, but there’s no question that the percussion has more of a depressing feature in the other track. Wordlaw doesn’t sound content to do something predictable with these releases, and his commitment to going against the current is more refreshing than it is experimental in tone.
Where there’s a lot of difference in the sonic depth between these two songs, I will say that between the beats and the clandestine melodies, we’re getting a pretty good feel for how much The Al Ur Pal Project can produce from within the four walls of a recording studio here. The diversity of the aesthetics at hand is one thing, but I’m getting the impression that he wants to do even more with this material than he’s letting on. He’s got a lot of space in the arrangement to spread out, but he’s being conservative – perhaps with the idea of another remix somewhere down the line.
I’m really looking forward to hearing more of what this player has to say in the near future, and if you haven’t taken the time out to hear these two singles this season, now might be the right moment to do so. The Al Ur Pal Project takes a lot of inspiration from classic adult contemporary themes, but this isn’t a run-of-the-mill soft pop listen; contrarily, something is being said here, through both duality and contrast at the same time, and I doubt it’s going to be the ceiling for this creator moving ahead.
Cleopatra Patel