On RE/SOLVE, 2ŁØT Make Restlessness Part of the Recovery Story
RE/SOLVE begins from a useful refusal: 2ŁØT do not accept that surviving a difficult chapter automatically produces peace. Their sophomore album follows Entropy, a record born from loss and upheaval, by examining what remains after the crisis has been named. Across 16 tracks, desire, doubt and old habits are waiting on the other side of survival.
That makes album closer “I Want It All,” featuring Mariel Jacoda, especially revealing. Its tension between gratitude and continued wanting prevents the record from resolving too neatly. Achievement can coexist with restlessness, and renewal can create new appetites. The album’s “Second Hero’s Journey” is most convincing when it allows those contradictions to remain in view.
The newly highlighted “Don’t Give Up On Me,” featuring Jon Batiste, occupies related emotional territory. The title sounds vulnerable because it acknowledges that transformation happens in relationship with other people. After “Come Together” explores uncertainty and trust, the Batiste collaboration arrives as an appeal to keep the connection intact.
Musically, 2ŁØT continue to treat Electronic Jam Music as an open system. Live improvisation and electronic production share space with funk, soul, jazz, rock and hip-hop. “Tread” emphasizes jazz-minded interplay, while “Lose My Mind” uses repetition and atmosphere to evoke an emotional spiral. The stylistic shifts mirror the record’s psychological ones.
Several of the strongest songs concern unstable perspective. “Favorite Star,” produced by RY X, considers the gap between who someone was and who others still imagine that person to be. “I Hurt Myself Again,” with Elise Trouw and Cameron McCloud, looks at the past through the distortion of distance. “Iris,” featuring Eric Krasno, turns toward self-worth without suggesting that recognition erases everything that came before.
That balance keeps the large guest roster from overwhelming the band’s identity. Robert Randolph, Frank Moka, Krasno, Batiste, Trouw, McCloud and Jacoda all enter a story whose shape is already clear. The guests expand the emotional and musical vocabulary, but 2ŁØT provide the connective tissue through groove, repetition, improvisation and recurring questions about identity.
As an album, RE/SOLVE works because its destination remains slightly unstable. “Don’t Give Up On Me” asks for endurance, “I Need You To Believe” asks for faith, and “I Want It All” admits that fulfillment has not ended desire. 2ŁØT leave those needs unresolved, which makes the journey feel recognizably human.
