Across three albums, Janelle Monáe has made listeners do their homework. She crafts sci-fi extravaganzas, funk-soul LPs with distinct acts, characters and storylines. There are accompanying short films, spin-off books and alter egos. Easter eggs in the liner notes seem almost quaint in comparison. The Age of Pleasure, her fourth full-length, is a lot simpler in approach: this is a sex record, a frothy, horny ode to erotic delight that breezes past in a carnal blur.
As if recorded off the edge of an infinity pool, this tight collection of 14 tracks – many of them brief, lush interludes – embraces laidback cool while endlessly calling back to the pioneers of Black soul. Seun Kuti, son of Afrobeats titan Fela, supplies shimmering brass on the braggadocious “Float”. “Champagne S***” is a mélange of marching band horns and dancehall synths. Grace Jones rocks up, cooing in French (“Trouble, trouble, trouble,” she purrs) before peacing out. “Lipstick Lover” bounces on a vintage reggae groove.
