The remainder of undun speaks through the instrumentals, where innocent pianos and violins turn into reckless percussions that fade into searing strings suggesting Redford has died.
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Undun
The album has an instrumental coda… an elegiac string quartet and a last dissonant piano chord, an unpeaceful final rest.
Undun is also a mirror held up to present-day America, where ambitions are more likely to die than prosper. It's a downer, but timely and affecting, with moments of beauty.
A gorgeous neo-classical suite closes the album… If an album can be both chilling and beautiful at once, "Undun" is it.
“All told, the story undun tells is sometimes chilling, often thrilling, and always illuminating.”
“The Roots’ 13th release is a concept album with a bravura twist: It narrates the story of a bootstrapping hustler in reverse, from death to birth.“
“The Roots' 13th album, which includes a brief, four-part orchestral suite that builds off a Sufjan Stevens piece, is definitely their most downbeat.“
Finally, credits roll over a sublime string quartet, mercifully for Black Thought's black thoughts — at least for a moment, before ?uestlove's meticulously arranged strings are silenced by the chilling, deathly growl of a struck piano.