Choker
Heaven Ain’t Sold
JET FUZZ
Choker wants to remind you that Geppetto didn’t plan on Pinocchio’s nose growing; sometimes problematic things just happen. The opening track off the Michigan-born alt-R&B songwriter’s latest album, Heaven Ain’t Sold, bears the elder woodcarver’s name and interpolates the I-will-not-tell-a-lie nose of legend as a metaphor for adaptation to unexpected turmoil. Sometimes shit doesn’t go as planned, and Choker knows firsthand that it’s the response that carries the weight. He spent almost eight years between 2018’s Honeybloom and this release scrapping numerous projects and struggling to get his craft to match his vision. Choker didn’t plan on Heaven Ain’t Sold taking almost a decade to come to fruition, but the most memorable part of the creation can often be unintended. Just ask Geppetto.
Soft and heavy, Heaven Ain’t Sold compresses you like a weighted blanket under Choker’s emotionally crooned stories woven together from the grief and loss he’s suffered over seven years. The aforementioned “Geppetto” begins with a moment of static to reset the ambiance before making way for a soulful Choker to ask “Can we start again?” over piano. The question breaks your heart, the weight of those years washing over the track as he pleads, “I’ll be different.” Soon after, the piano gets bolstered by glitching bass as Choker works through the emotional turmoil and dissociation that’s accompanied his hiatus. The breadth of the track is astonishing, a reminder that the songwriter’s time away has only helped him hone his toolkit and penchant for sonic flavors not quite like anything else.
The rest of Heaven Ain’t Sold only reinforces the fact that every lane is Choker’s if he wants it to be. Sole single “Proof” immediately compels your foot to tap with its new-jack groove while the title track that follows brings the BPM down with a fingerpicked guitar lead-in. By the time the drums return, you’ve already mellowed out and cried again. “Uneven” is the most intimate Heaven Ain’t Sold gets in being a bare-bones piano ballad Choker uses to reflect on lost love and heartbreak. The lengthy outro allows you to recuperate just long enough for “Rae Town” to pump a mix of lush strings and Jamaican dub into your veins without whiplash. The range across the project is only outdone by Choker’s baritone, a brassy brightness that forces you to feel the pain and grief etched into each note.
Once thought of as the heir apparent to the Frank Ocean frenzy of the late 2010s, Choker’s return to releasing music is nothing short of the praise he once received as a budding star. While damn near eight years is a long time to work toward a vision, it’s hard to imagine what a more successful outcome could have been. One can only hope Choker has found the same peace in the face of loss and turmoil that Heaven Ain’t Sold provides you with every listen.
