Mastered by Mastering Engineer Saif Bari
“Lido has released part two of his I O U concept album, featuring a plethora of his own vocals–a rare and, at present, particularly warranted inclusion for the multi-talented instrumentalist.
The boundless bearer of beats also packed the highly personal I O U 2 with a visual accompaniment, which saw limited theater release in Chicago, Toronto, and Seattle. The short film, like the EP itself, is quite meta. Ascribing his Everything album from two years back as the official introductory offering to the extended project, a post-breakup catharsis of sorts, Lido deems the I O U EPs as a “reflection on that process.”
Fittingly, Lido’s R&B-routed vocals encircle this conflicted tale of an ex-lover emerging from his scorn, not entirely ready for reconciliation. From newfound perspective, Lido posits on the violin-infused “Ex” that perhaps the romance was ill-fated from the beginning, when he “borrowed” her “‘from the universe.”
While “Flaws” touts ’90s-inspired R&B harmonies and organ synths under the guise of a forthright pop ballad, “Vultures,” “The Lonely Slow Ones,” and “Son Of Simon” exude Lido’s characteristic experimental flickers that render his work so compelling: ambient interruption, vapory synth emissions, and billowy, melancholic vocoder–to name only a few.”