Why Aethiopes Deserves Your Attention
Billy Woods has a lot to say. That is the first thing any listener should know going into one of his albums for the first time. Another important fact is that Woods does not intend for his writing to be understood. This is what makes Aethiopes so special. It gives an unusual mix of complex lyrics and unorthodox instrumentals that really makes the listener question why they are even listening in the first place. If they do take the deep dive to try and get something out of this album, the reward is a complicated puzzle of thoughts and ideas that gets more fun and exciting each time a new piece fits.
Words have always been the main focus of a Billy Woods album, and Aethiopes is no exception to this. The lyrics consist of countless obscure references and metaphors used to paint some kind of picture. Except imagine these pictures being about ten inches thick of paint and various other objects that have been thrown into the piece methodically, and then everything is scrambled so that it’s hard to make sense of it. On top of the lyrical ambiguity, the production is mostly slow-paced and reserved with some spots of loud noises and some faster beats mixed in, also presumably methodically placed. Many weird, seemingly random noises can be heard throughout the album, just more reason to stop trying to figure any of this out, right? Wrong, Billy Woods does this on purpose. He is challenging the listener to try and find a way to explain what they just experienced, and after the first few listens, there isn’t really an answer.
To get an idea, look at the first verse on the second track of the album, “No Hard Feelings.” The first bars of the song instantly relate a crack addict to an astronaut who burned to death in a tragic accident. The rest of the verse goes on to detail out an entire interaction Woods had with this man smoking crack outside his window, and his feelings about the interaction. He doesn’t want the fumes coming in through his window, so he asks the man to leave. This is where you hear the name of the song for the first time, “No hard feelings, no hard feelings, no hard feelings.” This is an important split in the verse because everything said about the addict prior to this is negative, and then after he says “no hard feelings,” he starts to reflect on the man and feel bad about his situation. This is a realistic interaction that Billy Woods, or anyone, could feasibly have. The instrumental, a synth loop and extremely loud bagpipes, is used to induce anxiety and really show the emotions that Woods is feeling during this interaction. It’s moments like this on the album where once the listener realizes what is going on, the picture becomes perfectly clear and there is a full scene to visualize.
The idea of a full scene to visualize is what makes Aethiopes so enticing. It is not an easy listen at all, but once the layers start to peel back, a whole slew of interesting scenes comes to fruition and makes this album one of the best of 2022.