If there was one thing all major music critics had in common last year, it was the inclusion of Nourished by Time’s The Passionate Ones on their year-end best-of lists. Released in August, the project immediately sparked interest thanks to its brutally honest and beautifully curated musicality throughout the entire album. His second full-length release to date is packed with electronic R&B and funky, jazz-pop sounds, influenced by ’70s disco, while his singing and spoken-word delivery feel heavily inspired by hip-hop and even trap music.

Crafted between Baltimore, London, and NYC, the album carries traces of all three cities — something you can hear throughout the music. The Passionate Ones feels like a form of escapism from the world we currently live in, both for the artist himself and for us as listeners.

Singer Marcus Brown gave tracks like “Max Potential”, “9 2 5”, and “BABY BABY” an extra push for taking on the responsibility of introducing the album ahead of its release. Each of these songs did its job perfectly, setting the tone for what would later become The Passionate Ones. Still, we’d like to highlight one more track from the album — one that, alongside those already mentioned, has become our personal favourite. Half a year into listening to the album non-stop, we find ourselves returning to “It’s Time” again and again.

Track number four reads like a beautiful, honest poem when you take in the lyrics on their own. Once sung in his deep, charming, and commanding voice, it almost transforms into a conversation with the man behind the music. “It’s Time” was written, produced, and performed entirely by Nourished by Time himself. No wonder it feels like an absolute masterpiece when everything comes together through his own vision and love.