This Was Tomorrow is as real as hip hop gets – if real is defined as working all day at a job you hate, returning to a weird smelling share house with no hot water, then smoking weed and playing video games until you fall asleep.
Which let’s be honest, is a lot more familiar to most of us than an endless supply of drug money and hoes.
Seth Sentry’s debut isn’t the story of a gangster from the streets, it’s the inner monologue of the guy next door – and it works.
The album’s greatest moments are undoubtedly its cheekiest: the laugh-out-loud ‘Room For Rent;’ the instant good mood inducing ‘Float Away.’ Sentry excels at creating chilled, wordplay driven satire, the likes of which we were introduced to with 2009’s ‘The Waitress Song.’ It’s been a long wait since then for a debut album, but This Was Tomorrow is worth it.
‘Thanks For Your Hospitality’ will be uncomfortably relatable to anyone who has ever spent too much time making too little money for a dick boss, while ‘My Scene’ is effortlessly charming in its breakdown of social clichés. ‘Dear Science’ is another highlight, asking the question we’ve all been thinking – “science, where’s my hoverboard?”
The record does have its serious moments. ‘Ten Paces,’ details the collapse of a random couple’s relationship, and ‘Langolier’s Banquet’ is a Stephen King referencing foray into navel gazing. But these are a little too generic to stand up to the quality of the rest of the album.
Sentry may have sly social commentary locked down, but his straight out criticisms need more work to be really original.
‘Where Was You’ is similarly thoughtful – “No kids. No pets. No partners… News flash interruption/something about the undead.” Wait, what? Oh, it’s a ballad about the zombie apocalypse. With that, we’re back to classic Seth.
– Frances Vinall
