Rex Orange County Bcos U Will Never B Free

Alex O’Connor’s Bcos U Will Never B Free might be a mixtape, but it’s a remarkably cohesive collection of jazzy soul confessions. The record revolves around his warm, grainy voice and his unromantically honest—even downright sweary—teenage persona, emphasised all the more when set against his mature musical chops (“Corduroy Dreams”). Pin-sharp lyrics, as on “Belly (The Grass Stains)”, are set to expansive piano chords (“Rex [Intro]”), trip-hop beats (“Curfew…”) and bedroom-studio electronics (“Green Eyes, Pt. Ii”).