Mabelshewill: SBTRKT feat D.R.A.M. & Mabel - I Feel Your Pain

I don't think I'm the only person who was disappointed by SBTRKT's latest release, eight-track long "mixtape", Save Yourself. And this is something I was quite looking forward too, especially seeing that there was a new Sampha collaboration, how could this go wrong? Well, the answer is, I don't really know, but somewhere along the lines, it did. However, out of all of this there is one redeeming quality on Save Yourself. It's Mabel.

'I Feel Your Pain' is definitely the standout on this effort, but for the first minute and half D.R.A.M. takes the reigns building up momentum until Queen Mabel steps in and absolutely slays the track to death. I think we're literally at a point right now where Mabel McVey's vocals are smooth enough to kill it on any track you put them on. She is 'I Feel Your Pain's, and honestly Save Yourself's, saving grace. And if it wasn't good enough already the real highlight of her verse is the "So what you gon' cry about it..." section. Slaughter them, Mabel, slay it.

Anyway, what I've found is if you just stick 'I Feel Your Pain' on repeat, D.R.A.M.'s "verse"(/section/half/whatever) actually works so much better post-Mabel because there's some kind of context to it. Standalone, the first half of the track comes across as a little aggressive and almost out of place, but when looped back it feels far more natural. I just wish I had even an iota as much praise for the rest of Save Yourself as I do for this song.