Fans of r'n'b singer D'Angelo have been waiting a good thirteen years for a third album from the reclusive artist. According to Roots' artist Questlove, the time has almost come, as D'Angelo is almost done recording the untitled LP.
D'Angelo's critically acclaimed album, Voodoo, is considered a classic by many, and according to Quest, the follow-up is sounding just as good. Quest revealed to Billboard that the LP is 99% done, "All last week, I was in the studio finishing (the album). We spent close to 18 hours, well not me personally because I have to go to 'Fallon,' but usually right after work. He's the only person that I'll actually go to the studio with and stay there to six in the morning, re-doing these drum parts. I won't even do that for my own band, but I'll do it for him. Right now, we're just tightening up the loose ends. But I still stand by, 99% of it is done."
Although D'Angelo fans have had many false alarms when it comes to new material from the singer, this time is different. Quest is hopeful that the music will be submitted for review by February, thus allowing it to be released this calender year.
Quest said of D'Angelo's sparse music output, "He's one of those artists that have, of course, taken 13 years to follow up a record. It's going to take you about 10 years to digest this record. Totally brilliant. Just the way this society works with music… being able to judge if something is a classic after the first listen, you can do that after thirty seconds on this. And the fact that we started this record in 2004, and it still sounds like it came out five years from now, it is a testament to the timelessness of it."
"If this record is not turned in by February, then something is extremely wrong. Because we worked to the bone in the entire month of January just to tighten up all the loose ends," Questlove added.
