Terrace Martin - Peace

Terrace Martin has been busy as of late, releasing multiple albums across multiple genres, sometimes with guests, sometimes solo. Peace is an interesting record in particular.

If you remember Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun, you’ll know it’s kind of an experimental record. Nothing was arranged; Andre and those with him just kind of felt the vibe of the moment and went with it. There’s a lot of that here with Terrace, as the majority of the tracks seem to have no clue where they’re going— they’re just feeling the room out until they find themselves comfortable enough to express themselves.

I’m also reminded of J Dilla’s album Donuts, where none of the tracks are long at all, no more than a couple of minutes. This album has 15 tracks fit within about half an hour. So, in that regard, it’s an intersection between Dilla and Andre.

The entire thing just seems to be feeling itself out, experimenting with its own sound in real time, until it finally culminates with the track "Community Research,” which is the most fleshed-out and arranged track on the album. Listening to the album track for track almost makes it make sense with a finale like that. It was almost as if Terrace was showing us his creative process out in the open for us all to experience. Very cool.