The Passionate Ones by Nourished by Time
#1
An AOTY for Nourished By Time has been years in the making: in 2023, I absolutely loved Erotic Probiotic 2, along with last year’s Catching Chickens EP. Marcus Brown has an undeniably wistful, emotive voice, which helps him to really sell his songs about love and labor under capitalism. On The Passionate Ones, Brown’s pop sensibility comes to the forefront, and the result is his most immediate set of songs yet, and a jarringly perfect pop album for our times
Brown sure can build a track - his penchant for layers on The Passionate Ones is part of what gives its songs their perfect sense of timing. “BABY BABY” is a perfect example of this: its stark, blown-out vocal layers at the intro eventually build into a bombastic synth swell during iterations of the chorus. Other notable moments include the gorgeous sample used in the chorus of “Max Potential,” an ode to love in a capitalist hellscape (“if I’m gonna go insane/At least I’m loved by you”); and just the entirety of “9 2 5:” an addictive dancefloor number about a character who tries to play the system (and stay alive) by writing love songs after shifts at his restaurant day job.
Singles aside, the song that really led me to consider this album for AOTY is actually the second track, “Idiot in the Park.” In an album full of earnest songs about protecting your humanity (and passion), “Idiot in the Park” takes a much more absurd approach by writing about an interaction between the narrator and a psychic in the park, who “says she knows what Jesus knows.” There’s a lot of humor in the song, with Brown complaining, “she’s giving me the runaround,” and “she didn’t ever read my palms, so I know she’s gonna get me wrong.” But with that, the narrator also finds meaning in interacting with this “Idiot in the Park,” when “she says she knows I lost a friend,” and “she made me laugh, she made me cry.” The song becomes incredibly affecting, and maybe says a bit about what you can get out of spontaneous interactions in your community, and especially in the age of stranger danger.
It is my utmost belief that the type of omnivorous R&B and powerful messaging that Brown is giving us as Nourished By Time is vitally important. It takes a lot of courage and energy to preserve your love and humanity while the world is unravelling, but maybe it can be done, and maybe we can fight for ourselves and others in the meantime. Earworm choruses and genre concoctions aside, rising above despair is the message that Marcus Brown delivers in this album, and it is one that I will try my hardest to take with me into 2026.