Whereas
Clear was a four-track EP released only three months after
Over It, this sequel is over twice the length of the original and was issued with
Summer Walker's third album around the corner. Like the 2019 EP, this one is based on live instrumentation with
Walker similarly at her rawest lyrically and vocally, unbothered by commercial reception. That approach plays to her strengths as a perceptive and pensive writer whose voice should never be obscured. When she is backed by more than a plaintive guitar, nothing gets in her way, and yet it's all stimulating -- the drums a little too nuanced to qualify as basic time-keeping, the basslines melodic and unobtrusive, the keyboards gently touched. Two of
Walker's most quietly powerful songs are among the highlights. Setting the mood of the EP is the bleary if resolute "Hardlife," where she castigates an ineffectual ex while singing in support of all Black women not getting what they need from their men. "Agayu's Revelation," a collaboration with
Solange,
John Carroll Kirby, and
Steve Lacy, comes off like an informal monologue but has as much to offer as any of
Walker's richest songs. Not all is deeply serious -- "New Type" with
Childish Gambino is a quarrelsome duet full of spite and wit. ~ Andy Kellman
![Greatest Hits [1999]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0074646606827_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Greatest Hits [1999]")
![V Layover' 2 [Barnes & Noble Exclusive]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0196922462481_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "V Layover' 2 [Barnes & Noble Exclusive]")
