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Thursday, June 4, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS

ALBUM REVIEW

‘Whispers’: too 
much, too soon

By SOPHIA KAUFMAN

Daily Arts Writer

Imaginary friends of children have 

always been an object of fascination 
for us. We can give any number of 
psychological rea-
sons for why and 
when 
children 

are most likely to 
have them, but 
there’s 
always 

that tiny doubt at 
the back of our 
minds: What if 
they’re something more than just fig-
ments of imagination?

The idea that children in their 

wide-eyed innocence could see or 
know something more than the jaded 
teenagers and the cynical adults they 
turn into is frightening ... but also 
intriguing.

ABC’s “The Whispers,” which pre-

miered June 1, presents this famil-
iar plot line to us with a new twist. 
It leans more toward complicated 
tech-y science fiction than, say, the 
paranormal, saccharine campiness 
of “Ghost Whisperer.” Set against a 
suburban backdrop of baseball games 
and bubble blowing in backyards, 
“The Whispers” follows the children 
in the outskirts of D.C. talking to peo-
ple — or things, as we’re gradually led 
to believe — that aren’t there. Their 
parents are ready to dismiss this as 
normal age-appropriate behavior, 
until the “friend” convinces these 
children to play a game, which always 
turns out to be dangerous — especial-
ly for adults. It involves activities like 
creating and detonating a bomb and 
rigging a treehouse so a mother falls 
to her death, while her daughter looks 
down through the jagged wooden 
planks at her, calling, “You can stop 
playing the game now.”

Lily Rabe (“American Horror 

Story”) gives a believable, if at times 
muted, performance as Claire Ben-

nigan, an FBI agent returning to the 
workplace and a mother to a young 
deaf son. Rabe’s own skill in creat-
ing a nuanced but realistic rapport 
with the children she’s questioning 
is complemented by the young actors 
of the show, notably Abby Fortson 
as Harper — the young girl who 
watched her mother fall through the 
treehouse floor. The most captivating 
part of “X Marks the Spot” is, by far, 
watching the children, who all seem 
to know the same imaginary friend 
named Drill. He speaks sometimes 
through the lights and other electri-
cal appliances.

The other adult actors are less 

lucky than Rabe. The dialogue they’re 
given to work with usually falls flat 
due to the half-hearted expository 
writing and predictably mundane 
complaints about home, work and 
marital problems. 

The writers tried to do too much in 

the single episode, but it held together 
anyway. Though the children and 
their imaginary, insidious friend 
could have been intriguing enough 
to carry the show, the writers threw 
in some more sci-fi stuff that doesn’t 
really mesh easily and naturally with 
the imaginary friend plot. There’s a 
creepy guy who always manages to 
show up whenever a child is play-
ing the “game” — until he passes 
out unexpectedly and wakes up in a 
hospital bed, staring dazedly at his 
own tattoos — and there’s something 
weird going on in the Sahara Desert 
with rocks and electricity. Oh, and of 
course there’s some government con-
spiracy afoot somewhere.

“The Whispers” has its entire sea-

son ahead of it to develop the story-
lines and blend them together — but 
the pilot was too much, too fast. If that 
was supposed to keep us watching, it 
may have done so for some viewers. 
But most will approach the follow-
ing episodes with considerably more 
skepticism and higher standards. 

B-

Whispers

Series Premiere

ABC

‘Surf’ ’s multiple genres

Eclectic album 

hints toward future 

of hip hop

By WILL GREENBERG

Daily Arts Writer

Last Thursday was the worst 

possible time to be running on 
inadequate sleep. When Chance 
the 
Rapper 

and The Social 
Experiment 
dropped 
Surf 

that 
night, 

I 
grappled 

with the same 
question 
all 

modern-day 
hip-hop 
fans 

have to endure 
in this era of 
random-album-
dropping mania: Stay up to hear it 
or listen in the morning? I made 
the game-time decision to wait 
until the morning, but would try 
to get up early and go through the 
tracks as soon as I could. All this 
is to say, I woke up Friday with a 
bad combination of emotions — 
groggy, grumpy and with high 
expectations.

Surf is one of the highly antici-

pated albums of the year, with 
many fans waiting to see what 
new magic comes true when phe-
nom Chance gets his hands on 
a project. However, this album 
was advertised as a collabora-
tive effort to involve more of The 
Social Experiment band, led by 
Nico Segal — trumpet player with 
Chance and previously with Save 
Money companion Vic Mensa. 

Time and time again, Chance 

and The Social Experiment crew 
offer their emotions through 
music so honestly it can be off-
putting if you’re not ready for it. 
They create music that straddles 
the line between euphorically 
delightful and cheesy. Try see-
ing the group live; they push their 
listeners to the brink of their 
emotional capacity and ask them 
to trust that no one will fall off a 
cliff. Much of the time, it works 
to great effect, creating a satis-
fying vibration that puts a smile 
on your face. But, if you’re in the 
wrong frame of mind, as I was for 
my first listen through of Surf, the 
music will fall flat in your unwel-
coming ears. 

So, before evaluating Surf we 

need to understand what it is. 
First, it’s not a rap album. We’ve 
known that from the begin-
ning. Chance has said repeatedly 
in interviews leading up to the 
release that this has been Don-
nie Trumpet’s project. Segal 
controlled the project from day 
one, according to Chance, and he 
orchestrated a variety of sounds 
and genres, combining his own 
playing ability with the musical 
abilities of a swath of other great 
talents. For those looking for a 
follow-up to Chance’s fame-mak-
ing Acid Rap, you will not find it 
here.

That’s not to say there isn’t 

rap, or even good rap. Chance 
delivers several delightful vers-
es throughout, most notably on 
“Wanna Be Cool,” that are craft-
ed more delicately than those 
from Acid Rap.And then there 
are the features. Big Sean, J. Cole, 
Busta Ryhmes, B.O.B, Janelle 
Monae, BJ the Chicago Kid, Non-
ame Gypsy, Jeremih, Quavo (of 
Migos), D.R.A.M., Jesse Boykins 
III, Erykah Badu, Raury, King 
Louie and Jamila Woods all make 
appearances on Surf (So much for 
not a rap album, huh?). The inter-
net is still trying to compile the 
full list of contributors; the track 
list includes no feature credits. 
Each guest provides their own 
flavor to their respective songs, 
with superpowers like J.Cole and 
Busta Ryhmes delivering reli-
ably solid verses and others, most 
notably Quavo, blend surprisingly 
well with Segal’s instrumental 
creations. 

More than anything we’ve 

seen so far from this branch of 
Save Money, Surf pushes the 
boundaries of experimental hip 
hop, being simultaneously too 
musical and too carefully crafted 
to fit nicely into any specific sub-
set of the genre. Segal exhausted 
his creative abilities to great and 
compelling effect here, wield-
ing a variety of genres across the 
tracks. “Slip Slide” resembles a 
New Orleans marching band, 
centering on drums and horns; 
“Nothing Came to Me” and coun-
terpart “Something Came to 
Me” display Segal’s remarkable 
trumpet playing chops, creating 
a theatrical, explosive sound that 
knocks your socks off. There’s 
also the ethereal, dream-like 
tracks such as “Warm Enough” 

and “Questions,” which employ 
more computer crafting. 

The album is a magic trick. 

Segal and The Social Experiment 
take musical concepts we’ve seen 
before and blend them before our 
eyes in a way that’s hard to get 
our head around — here I have 
an ordinary rap verse, now watch 
what happens when I do THIS! If 
I had to take a stab at defining the 
genre, I’d call it endorphin-induc-
ing. Still, the music challenges lis-
teners to internalize the sound as 
is, without trying to understand 
intent or complete definition.

Surf requires several listens, 

even if you woke up in a good 
mood. There is so much going on 
within each track that you can’t 
fully evaluate it until you under-
stand just how much work went 
into it. Upon revisiting “Some-
thing Came to Me,” I realized 
the intricacies of the base under-
neath the trumpet, all together 
creating a stirring, infectious 
instrumental. Each track is rich 
in musical flavor this way, conjur-
ing unavoidable sentiment and 
calming joy. Aside from the many 
tracks with singular genre influ-
ences, the culmination of effects 
can be found in the irresistible 
tracks such as “Wanna Be Cool,” 
“Slip Slide” and the previously 
released “Sunday Candy.” These 
are the ones that conjure a smile 
almost without fail.

As Andrew Barber — writer 

for local Chicago blog Fake Shore 
Drive who got an exclusive first 
listen of Surf — wrote, the album 
“was meant to be played in the 
whip. It’s a summer album.” 
He’s right — it’s an ear-pleasing 
delight, but it’s also going to grab 
the attention of hip hop as anoth-
er large step toward a new age of 
rap music. 

For all the “it’s not a rap album” 

talk, there are too many big names 
laying verses here for this to go 
overlooked. 
The 
collaboration 

of this eclectic group offers an 
unwritten consent that this is the 
direction hip hop is heading. Plus, 
the passion of artists like Donnie 
Trumpet, Chance, and the rest of 
The Social Experiment is unlike-
ly to lessen anytime soon. While 
it might not be a rap album right 
now, it is likely a sign of things 
to come in the genre. Surf will be 
remembered as a key landmark 
when mapping the transition into 
the next generation of rap. 

B+

Surf

Donnie Trumpet 
& The Social 
Experiment

Self-Released

ABC

Children are terrifying

TV REVIEW

