Chloe x Halle Ungodly Hour (Chrome Edition) LP

Rolling Stone's The 50 Best Albums Of 2020 - Rated 19/50!
NPR's The 50 Best Albums Of 2020 - Rated 23/50!
Paste's The 50 Best Albums Of 2020 - Rated 28/50!
Pitchfork's The 50 Best Albums Of 2020 - Rated 28/50!

The second studio album by sisters (and Beyonce protégées) Chloe x Halle, Ungodly Hour was originally released in June 2020 and features the singles "Catch Me Up", "Forgive Me" and "Do It". The Chrome Edition reissue includes two new tracks, "80/20" and "Hazy".

This flawless R&B gem comes from the sister duo of Chloe and Halle Bailey, born in Atlanta in the summer of 1998 and the spring of 2000. Ungodly Hour is way past the teen vibe of their debut, The Kids Are Alright - the sisters show off as sophisticated writers, producers, and (most of all) singers. Chloe x Halle seem to worship Southern Nineties R&B, yet you can hear jazz, techno, indie rock, even doo-wop in their game. They team up with the U.K. house duo Disclosure for the gorgeously kaleidoscopic title ballad, while testifying to their twentysomething grit with the world-beating confidence of 'Do It' and 'Baby Girl.'

Ungodly Hour is a collection of low-key tracks that demonstrated true mastery of their intricate harmonies over slinky, charismatic production. It makes sense that the album gave them their biggest hit, the highly boppable 'Do It.' While it feels like the duo shot up overnight and out of sight, their rise parallels the way the world has been living this year: inward and on an insomniac's circadian rhythm. Hopefully, like Chloe x Halle, we reemerge into the real world, elegantly transformed by what happened in the wee hours of the morning.

The Baileys are unsurprisingly able to adapt to chic throwback soul flavorings and acoustic pop, while on the title track, they slip and slide with finesse over Disclosure's smoothed-out U.K. garage, punctuating it with an impossibly elegant chorus.