I’ve been rocking with Sylvan Lacue for quite some time now. I discovered him through Visionary Music Group when he went by the name “QuESt.” He opened for Logic on the While You Wait tour and I was very impressed by his performance. I began to follow him and waited for his first project “Searching Sylvan” to drop. When I first heard the project, it was a breath of fresh air because he was being so real and pushing boundaries. After the project, he made his departure from VMG to build his new WiseUp collective and continue with his own brand. In addition, he changed his stage name to his actual name Sylvan Lacue.
Sylvan had a lot planned for the future and it was clear he wasn’t stopping. He released a collaborative EP titled “E V A N G E L I N E” which showed how much Sylvan grew in the time between projects. This led to his full album titled “Far From Familiar” which made it clear that he was much different than other artists at the time. Sylvan let the album sit for some time and came back with a few singles in 2016. “Best Me” was one of the singles and a favorite of many listeners. It actually made his next album “Apologies In Advance” which was released January 12, 2018. In 2017, Sylvan released 5 singles and 4 of them made the album. The other single was a “Best Me” remix which featured Saba.
Sylvan had been working on “Apologies In Advance” for quite some time. I knew that the album would be good before even listening because he put so much into it. Many fans of Sylvan had been waiting for this album for a while but the wait was definitely worth it. Sylvan explained the album by saying ‘‘‘Apologies in Advance’ is a concept album surrounded around the idea of an AA meeting but for emotions. Each song on the album represents an emotion to confront. My goal for this album is to get as many of us to start opening up and talking about some of the issues that we deal with on a day to day basis in an effort to heal.”
The way the album rolled out was unique and caught the attention of many people. Every Wednesday leading up to the album release, Sylvan would release a short video of friends speaking about struggles and life experiences. Lacue tweeted “Let’s open the conversation so we can begin to heal.” From a listener's perspective, this was a great way to get the audience prepared for the body of work he would be presenting to us in the beginning of 2018. Each and every video hit different topics and shed light on important things that everyday people go through.
As far as the music goes, it set the bar higher than before which wasn’t new for Lacue. It’s great to see how much Lacue grows with each project. He always delivers something greater and the work shows for it. There were a handful of unheard tracks and they were impressive. Each track held its own on the album and was unique from the others. “Empathy” was one of my favorites because the song is very relaxed and features BJRNCK who does her thing. “Coffee Break” was another one of my favorites because Lacue goes in for almost three minutes. The video dropped shortly after the release of the album and it gives the track even more life.
Overall, this album was very well put together and will continue to push Sylvan Lacue forward. “Apologies In Advance” has received recognition from many platforms after its release. Spotify added tracks to a few their major playlists including “Mellow Bars.” Lacue’s photo was the displayed photo for the cover of the playlist as well. Sylvan also made Tidal’s “Rising Artists” page and stopped by their office. This album will help many people open the door to talking about mental health and struggles they face every day. You can stream it on several platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc. Sylvan Lacue will only go up from here, don’t sleep on him!
