Childish Gambino, Bando Stone and the New World: REVIEW

Childish Gambino, Bando Stone and the New World (RCA)

Donald Glover’s career in entertainment has been interesting to watch from the sidelines. As Childish Gambino, he dabbled in the MySpace/Cloud rap-pop of the late 2000s, bringing absolute bangers like “Bonfire” on 2011s Camp, and then came back five years later with the lightning-in-a-bottle album “Awaken, My Love!” And to be honest, he could have stopped there. But then he dropped “This Is America,” the de facto single of 2018, which could have been his swan song. Yet now he’s back, ending the Childish Gambino era with a bloated and half-baked mess of an album with a fractured narrative that is neither interesting nor arresting. What usually separates Childish Gambino from everyone else is his satirical take on genres that sometimes even outshine his predecessors. On this album, Glover feels bored — never really going further than an undeveloped idea that only scratches the surface. Glover is better than this plain-jane pop. Songs like “Steps Beach,” with its synthy ’80s line, could have been cooked longer to grab the listener. Instead, much like the song “Real Love,” we only get breadcrumbs. “Lithonia” is easily the album’s top contender, almost diving into the emo-pop realm, but still feels a bit rushed. And then we have 15 more songs… It’s too long and ultimately unsatisfactory, like a three-hour film that could have been chopped down. When I remember Glover’s music career, Bando Stone will be nothing but a blip. 5/10 Trial Track: “Lithonia”

For more on Childish Gambino, please visit his website. This review was originally published in the Aug. 2024 issue of Cult MTL.

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