''Soil'' (stylized in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing systems ...

) is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer and songwriter

Serpentwithfeet Jonathan Josiah Wise (born July 9, 1988), known professionally as serpentwithfeet, is an R&B singer based in Brooklyn, New York City. Wise signed with the English record label Tri Angle (record label), Tri Angle to release his debut extended pl ...

. It was released on June 8, 2018, by

Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, part of the Secretly Group. The Secretly Group includes record labels Dead Oceans and Jagjaguwar as well as a music publisher known as Secretly Publis ...

and Tri Angle.

Critical reception

''Soil'' received widespread acclaim from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 87, based on 15 reviews. Dmitry Teckel of '' Clash'' described the album as "magical" and called it "presents love as a great ritual of universal joy". Sasha Geffen of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' said, "With ''soil'', serpentwithfeet deeply engages with the complex membranes between the self and a loved one, the self and the world. Few albums attempt this much nuance in articulating love; Wise's success in his ambitions feels like a gift." Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album four out of five stars, commented that the album "captures a passionate, complex artist coming into his own." Rachel Finn of '' DIY'' called the album as "a return to his roots and a celebration of finally having found his feet." Katherine St. Asaph of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' gave the album a positive review, calling the album was "full of subtleties: love lost, love mourned, love repurposed." Comparing to his previous work ''blisters'', Stephen Mayne of '' Under the Radar'' praised the album to have "richer, dense rhythms and surprising samples", commented that they "wrapped into sensuous tracks detailing love and loss." A. Harmony of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' called the album as a "courageous effort where serpentwithfeet's bravery pays off."

Accolades

Track listing

Credits adapted from

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. Notes *All track titles are stylized in

References

{{Authority control 2018 debut albums Secretly Canadian albums Serpentwithfeet albums Albums produced by Katie Gately Albums produced by Clams Casino (musician) Albums produced by Paul Epworth Tri Angle (record label) albums