Although T-Ache was initially hesitant to undertake a sound he accurately assumed was a fad, snap music clearly suited his type—a sugary, Auto-Tune-drenched trill that gave the impression of Megatron singing freakishly candy love songs. Once more, on the album’s second single, “Bartender,” synths gleaming like starlight, he recounts an evening out with the brevity of a blues singer, parroting his personal traces: “Broke up with my woman final night time/So I went to the membership.” So flawlessly does Akon harmonize with T-Ache on the hook that it’s straightforward to neglect he sings the third verse (many DJs seemingly lower the music off earlier than then), enjoying a sober wingman requesting T-Ache’s permission to bounce with a brand new buddy.
In singing in regards to the euphoria and delirium of nightlife, T-Ache nods to his Tallahassee roots on the early album lower “Church,” a countrified combat music stuffed with banjos and handclaps, and “Present U How,” which feels just like the soundtrack to a rodeo or reward dance. He deploys his rap alter ego, Teddy Penderazdoun, to pursue the scarlet-letter girl on the town, enjoying off the ho-into-a-housewife trope, annoyingly. Nevertheless it’s additionally… candy? “Inform ’em kiss yo ass/’Trigger on the finish of the day, you bought a spot to/Lay down and let me lay with you,” he sings. All a part of his life’s work. His rap personas (the opposite one on the album is Teddy Verseti) exist primarily to indicate his versatility, and he’s entertaining and infrequently dexterous as a lyricist however significantly better at bellowing candy nothings than robust speak.
The social gathering vibe in T-Ache’s music is usually thick to the purpose of overshadowing the enjoyable. The darker facet of his debauchery is “Tipsy,” the place the temper feels coercive, to say the least: “I knew you wouldn’t be the freak that you’re until you tipsy,” he sings (in a Juvenile-esque decrease register), proving that the booze-and-a-good-time goal has an outer restrict. As T-Ache explains it, although, he celebrates rather a lot as a result of ingesting and merriment really feel genuinely restorative, and that’s the way in which of the South. “I believe individuals relate to my songs extra as a result of I’m not making an attempt to be overly intelligent. It’s kinda simply regular dialog,” he instructed NPR in 2014. “It’s simply, ‘Pay attention. Right here’s the scenario. Right here’s a melody to it. You prefer it? You don’t? Right here it’s.’”
Epiphany is stuffed with odd surprises. “Time Machine” is a delightfully bizarre sci-fi ballad wherein T-Ache portrays a robotic named Tebunon Pedalophagis from Planet Teleguston, singing like a tragic Iron Large about returning to easier instances earlier than his profession took off: “Illudium PU-36 explosive house modulator/Goin’ on a visit, I’ll be again/Homeboy, I’ll so long,” he laments, permitting himself to dream, Auto-Tune on the zero-est setting. (Planet Teleguston begs for a visible remedy.) The observe is, after all, rapidly adopted by a sensual homage to Pilates-toned abs, “Yo Abdomen,” the sort of absurd T-Ache music you’ll be able to in all probability hear earlier than truly listening to it. There, and on pleasure-seeking information like “69” (no guessing what that’s about) and “Put It Down,” his vocal texture is each clean and gritty, like a pitcher of lemonade with sugar grains on the backside.
