With their inquisitive pop music under the name Nourished by Time, singer and producer Marcus Brown rummages through the past like an archaeologist. Since 2019, the Baltimore-raised, London-based crooner has released a series of singles exploring a wide range of 1980s touchstones including new wave, electro-funk, and R&B. On his brief 2022 release Erotic Probiotic, he condensed these influences to two tracks of brooding and fluid synth-pop that recalled Depeche Mode and the Blue Nile. A year later, they’ve taken to another ’80s staple: freestyle. The genre of roller rinks, impassioned belting, and uptempo 808 beats invigorates Brown’s once-muted approach. It’s his debut album, but he sounds reborn.
Erotic Probiotic 2 plays like a sampler of a time-warped ’80s that took place entirely in Brown’s head—and maybe extends into the present day. In these apparitional songs, Jodeci harmonies float over Paul Hardcastle synth drizzles; Larry Blackmon screams spring off of RZA drums; warped samples of podcast-era Joe Budden and ESPN’s Jay Williams melt into a shoegaze thicket. Brown likely has some personal connections to these disparate sources, but he completely sublimates those attachments into the songwriting. The result is music that is studied but uncouth, familiar but unbidden.
The freestyle credo is that anything goes—rapping, piping, scatting—as long as the rhythm doesn’t let up, and this ethos emboldens Brown to freefall through time. Single “Daddy” begins with pulsing drum programming, ascendant harmonies, and a cheery rap verse that initially evokes hip-house. But then nocturnal synths and a sour guitar melody descend, and Brown’s vocals turn forlorn for the second verse. “The dot connector/The spot corrector/I say I love you/You say whatever,” they chant on the jubilant but fretting chorus. “Dot connector” is a fitting phrase for their approach, reflecting both the vaporous subject matter and Brown’s expert weaving of styles.
This vision stands out on “The Fields.” The skittering hi-hats, snappy snares, and buoyant bassline suggest Miami bass, while the questioning vocals root the performance in freestyle. “Once or twice I prayed to Jesus/Never heard a word back in plain English/More like signs or advertisements/Telling me to keep consumerizing,” Brown sings on the bouncy hook, lost in the mixed messages of the modern world. They don’t sink into despair though; voicing his confusion pushes him to keep seeking answers.
The singing on Erotic Probiotic 2 is as homespun as the production. Brown has a liquid baritone that can percolate with ache or froth with joy, and here it does both and more. Opener “Quantum Suicide” features expressive whispers, shouts, coos, and moans that inject intimacy into the bleak subject matter. “Have you ever prayed/For your invention?” they ask. On “Soap Party,” his voice recedes into misty key melodies and propulsive drums as he confesses to being scared to make a move in a relationship. “The truth is in the sun/But there’s comfort in rain,” they sing. It’s one of many moments on the album where the exuberance of the songwriting belies feelings of inertia and indecision.
Despite the retro sounds, Brown studiously avoids nostalgia in his work, an approach that’s refreshing but comes at the expense of vulnerability. Other pop syncretists, like Sudan Archives, Moodymann, and Yves Tumor bring out the appetite and longing in their songs, each acquired curio divulging something about the collector’s urges or facilitating a grand aesthetic. Not so much with Erotic Probiotic 2. Freestyle could be Nourished by Time’s artistic roadmap, or just a passing interest. It’s a testament to these engrossing performances that, wherever they go next, they will probably sound right at home.
