……As one of the few remaining kings of Neo-Soul, Maxwell has the luxury of spacing his projects and living/collecting inspiration in-between. The 2009 predecessor was built on the foundation of a broken heart, or at least the concept of disillusion or growing apart. This year’s offering feels like the exact opposite, weariness of relationships altogether or coming to terms with the fairy tale being out of reach and settling for what exists. In other words, if fans are looking for an abundance of steamy, toe-curling take-you-down anthems or odes to lust and togetherness, they’re out of luck. But if they want to join Maxwell and his established collaborators, Hod David and Stuart Matthewman on this minimalist, mercurial ride, there are definitely rewards to be found.

The second half of blackSUMMERS’night has the most conventional feel, with lyrics that turn the expected urban grooves into unexpected emotions and outcomes: “Hostage” feels gentle, but paints the musician as a willing prisoner to his love’s whims (“If the keys were left, I would never go yeah/I’d stay within the confines of your hold. I’m free inside the cage of your heart in gold/prison of you love makes me so…..”). “Gods” posits Maxwell as the sinner and his lover as above rules and reproach, and “Finger’s Crossed,” featuring a smattering of horns, a marcher’s tempo and the stylings of Robert Glasper, hopes against hope that he can win the love, even as its nature may ebb and flow with everyday struggles and the impressions of others outside their union: “They can tell you anything to change your mind, there’s no mystery and you’re not blind/Fingers crossed you’ll make the choice, to make you mine, make you mine.”

Some songs are more nebulous, but they still get the job done…….(please click here for the full-length review at soultracks.com)